Bible Study Cookies

My mom was going to be short on time with the Labor Day weekend lake trip and asked if I would make cookies for her to take to Bible Study this morning. I took the opportunity to invent a cookie recipe to fill the morning cookie niche. I don't really have a problem eating a cookie any time of the day but I thought I would try to make something that would appeal to those who are not as easy going with their cookie schedule. My answer to that was to make sure these were not over-sweet or too rich. I made a last minute change to these (after 2 different test-batches this weekend) and it turned out to be fantastic! These would be excellent with coffee and I'm really considering making some more just so I can pretend they are breakfast later this week.

I know I wrote a lot of instructions for these but it's mostly  anecdotal because these are pretty darn simple. Also, I'm sorry but Jo could not make it into this picture because she could not be trusted near the cookies.

Bible Study Cookies

Ingredients
2 sticks of butter - room temp
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 plus 1/8 tsp vanilla
1 plus 1/8 tsp pure almond extract
1 tsp orange zest
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Instructions
1. Cream butter and sugar with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. You could use a hand mixer, I doubt it would make a difference. Add the eggs, vanilla, almond extract, and orange zest and blend until combined.

2. In a small bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder and whisk together. Add the flour mixture a little at a time to the butter mixture, blending on low until each round of flour is well incorporated.

3. Pat dough into a disk shape and refrigerate for at least 1 hour! This is important because you will become extremely frustrated if you try to cut cookie shapes out of this before it is set-up enough. I learned this one the frustrating way.

4. After waiting at least 1 hour (I'm serious) preheat the oven to 350. Roll out the dough that you have refrigerated for at least the prior hour and cut it into whatever shape you desire using the cookie cutter of your choosing.

5. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes. Depends a little on the shape of your cookies, so keep an eye on them. You will know they are done when the bottom edges start to look just a little bit golden - do not wait for browning of any kind.