LEMON COOKIES

Ingredients.....COOKIE DOUGH...120gm of butter/ marg ( room temp), 300gm of castor sugar, 1 egg lightly beaten, juice and zest of 3 lemons, 465gm of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, pich of salt. LEMON ICING .....55gm of butter/ marg (room temp ), 1 tsp of lemon zest finely grated, 125ml of lemon juice, 515gm of icing sugar. CANDIED LEMON ZEST.....rind of 3 lemons, 100gm of castor sugar, 65ml of water. Preheat your oven to 180 deg C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. To start let's begin by making the lemon zest. You will need a 'string zester', remove the rind from 3 lemons in thin strips. Bring sugar and water together in a small saucepan and simmer without boiling until the sugar dissolves. Now add the rind strips and simmer without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove the rind from the syrup with metal tongs , spread over a wire rack to cool. To prepare the cookie dough..... use your electric beater to combine the butter/ marg until fluffy and pale, beat in the lemon juice , zest and lightly beaten egg. In a separate bowl mix together the plain flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture, until a dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic cling wrap and refrigeratefor 60 minutes. When the dough has rested , break off heaped tbs of the dough and roll into balls. Place balls 2"apart on the lined baking trays. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden, place on wire racks to cool completely. Lemon icing .... can be made while you are waiting for the cookies to cool. In a clean separate bowl , mix all the icing ingredients together until smooth. Once the cookies have cooled completely, top with with the lemon icing and garnish with the candied lemon zest.