Dorothy Cookies

I have the best grandma. She is the greatest storyteller, sprinkling my childhood with hilarious made-up stories about Curious George riding a horse into a clothesline full of laundry. She is the best hostess, feeding my siblings and I breakfast every morning before grammar school for more years than I can remember. She would drive to not one but two different bagel shops because my sister and I liked Noah’s and my brother liked House of Bagels. Overly generous at birthdays, Christmas, and anytime in between and my biggest supporter of Through Aviator Sunglasses. I credit her for my love of real fur and gold jewelry. She gives the best long hugs and to this day I can smell the perfume she’d wear while I was growing up, even though it’s no longer made. Grandmas like her are just the best.

I had the chance to meet Dave’s grandma a few months ago and I’m sure he too would say she is the best grandma ever. A fiery, pint-sized woman with one of those addictive laughs, Dorothy Gutzler is a fierce woman sharing relationship advice like “always keep your own bank account” and to Dave, “never ask Kendall if she needs that pair of shoes” and life advice like “you always have to look forward”.

Both Dorothy and my grandma are women after my own heart with our shared love for sweets. I have such fond memories of traveling around Spain with my grandma, who every afternoon had to have a piece of candy. I can be on board with that. Dorothy shares my two is better than one mentality. 2 lemon drop cookies? Don’t mind if we do.

I was so appreciative to spend an hour one afternoon looking through Dorothy’s recipe notebooks, snapping pics of her favorites, and hearing the stories behind them. I loved seeing handwriting of small children woven within the pages. While she was cooking Dorothy would teach her grandsons how to read and write by penning sentences for the boys to copy. Such a sweet memory to see. This is what I love about food, you’ll always have the memories surrounding something really extraordinary. Take my family’s Mocha Cakes for example – I’m sure everyone in my family would fondly remember 10 grandchildren sitting in my grandparent’s “booth” kitchen table, rolling coffee-soaked squares of sponge cake into chopped peanuts.

These lemon cookies from our Easter visit will forever make me think of the first time I met Dorothy, her instant warmth and completing the final piece to Dave’s family puzzle. These cookies are so damn good. Double the recipe to keep a batch in the freezer (they are delicious frozen) to give as hostess gifts or for that mid-afternoon snack, or two.

Dorothy Cookies a.k.a Lemon Meltaways

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups powered sugar, divided
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ¼ tsp. table salt

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy.
3. Add ½ cup powdered sugar; beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in zest and juice.
4. Whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.
5. Cover and chill 1 hour
6. Drop dough by level spoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, using 1-inch cookie scoop
7. Bake at 350° for 13 minutes or until lightly browned around edges.
8. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes
9. Toss remaining 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl with warm cookies.

Makes 3 ½ dozen