Lemon pecan dainties, now with chocolate!

Happiness is finding a roll of unbaked cookie dough in your freezer. It's very much like Christmas in April. I also had a small bit of chocolate dipping mixture leftover from making cranberry cat kisses at the holidays. So why not both?

It might be sacrilege, since these are one of those set-in-stone family cookies. I suspect they spring from my mother's 1950s vintage Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book.

Lemon pecan dainties

Ingredients

½ cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1 tablespoon lemon juice (best if fresh)

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

1 cup chopped pecans

Method

Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg, lemon juice and peel. Mix dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Stir in nuts. Shape into rolls and wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Chill (or freeze and thaw in the refrigerator when ready to use). Slice nearly a quarter-inch thick. Bake on greased sheet (or parchment paper-lined sheet) for 12 to 15 minutes at 350. (Get them out of the oven before they brown; they'll set up a bit after you remove them from the oven.)

Optional garnish: If you want to add a chocolate garnish, melt ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon shortening in the top of a double boiler. Spoon a small dollop in the middle of each cookie and let cool to set up.

It really doesn't hurt the flavor to add chocolate. It probably also makes kids more likely to eat them, since otherwise they are kind of a grownup cookie. Maybe next year I'll try one roll of dough with garnish and one without. Assuming we get to have Christmas this year.