Sand Tarts - ☺

I fondly remember my grandmother Cora making these cookies with/for me when I was a child. Her sand tarts were thin and crisp/crunchy with an egg wash that held either granulated sugar or sugar and cinnamon. She did not use the baking powder shown in the following recipe. Be sure to look at the maple and peanut butter variation later in this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg plus one egg yolk, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups of sifted flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder – (skip this unless you want puffy sand tarts)
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten (to coat the cookies before baking)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar, or, mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Set the oven at 325ºF.

Cream the butter and sugar and lemon juice and blend them with the beaten egg in a mixer.

Sift the flour and (baking powder) together and blend it with the creamed mixture to make soft dough.

Wrap the dough in waxed paper and put it in the refrigerator to chill. When cold, place the dough on a floured board and roll it out to about 1/8 inch thick. Dust the dough with flour as needed to make rolling out easier.

Cut the dough into decorative shapes with cookie cutters. Place the cutouts on a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Brush the top of each cookie with the beaten egg white and sprinkle them with the cinnamon sugar mixture or just sugar or other sugar based decorative toppings.

Bake at 325ºF about 15 to 20 minutes or until they are lightly browned at the edges.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Variation:

Skip the egg wash, sugar and/or cinnamon topping. Put ½ tsp. maple extract and one tsp. baking powder in the cookie dough while mixing. Make a filling icing of 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 1/3 cup of Jif® creamy peanut butter, 1/8^th cup maple syrup and 4 oz. cream cheese. Spread the icing on a cooled cookie about 1/8^th inch thick and top with another cookie.