Dairy Free "Butter"cookies

These cookies come from some very old Mennonite cookbook that my grandmother had laying about. They are very light in color and neither too sugary to be gross or lacking in sugary goodness for those with a sweet tooth. The addition of the lemon or orange adds a little bit of an interesting favor to them.

I am sorry to say this is one of the harder recipes to replace eggs in- it really does need 6 eggs. I have not played much with replacing the eggs in this recipe though so if you have any luck, please let me know how it goes! Sorry to those with egg allergies out there!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes

Ingredients:

1 C "butter" (I use Earth Balance's vegan butter or shortening- they now even a soy free version!)

1 C sugar

4 egg yolks

2 eggs (yolk and white)

dash of salt

1 tsp vanilla (I always, always add more)

rind of 1 lemon or orange

2 1/4 C flour

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and egg yolks to mixture and beat well. Add the rest of the ingredients, slowly adding in the flour. Cool dough in refrigerator for several hours. Take out and roll out thinly. Cut with cookie cutters. Lightly grease a pan and bake- they will look almost white in color when they are done so be careful not to overcook them.

Option: Bet 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp water together and brush on top of cookies before you cook. This gives the cookies a kind of glaze but my family did not really like this option and I don't do it any more. Instead we just eat them plain or decorate them with sprinkles and icing.

Note: Different extracts can change the flavor of the cookies some....try more vanilla, or lemon, or peppermint, or if you are not allergic to nuts try almond extract. The possibilities are endless....