If you prefer, dough can be made the day before which makes it nice and chilled to work with, or you can start scooping them right after you make the dough but probably you will have to chill it for a while as you’re making the cookies and the dough stays out. I sometimes stick it in the freezer for a few minutes to get it to firm up again.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, add eggs one at a time, then the extract and zest.
In a smaller bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking powder, then slowly add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, you might not have to use all the milk.
When everything is incorporated, let the dough rest for 5 minutes or wrap and chill overnight.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. and place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.
To form the knots I like to use a cookie scoop so all will be similar in size, then take the scoop of dough and roll it into a log about 5 or 6 inches, it’s the length of a bench scraper, that’s how I measure mine.
Then take one side of the log and spiral it into a circle, you can tuck the other end down or up, it doesn’t matter.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes according to your oven, mine took exactly 12 minutes, you want the underneath to be golden brown, not dark brown.
Cool on racks.
LIMONCELLO ICING
One and one half cups of powdered sugar
Five tablespoons of limoncello Liqueur
zest of 1 lemon
TRADITIONAL LEMON ICING
One and one half cups of powdered sugar
zest of 1 lemon
One half teaspoon of lemon extract
and lemon juice to get the right consistency.
I always taste my icing to make sure it has the right amount of lemon, you can always add more, and I also like to brush my icing on instead of dipping., personal preference.
After frosting immediately put your sprinkles on and then let the whole cookie dry for about an hour.
You can keep them in tins with wax paper in between, or you can freeze them in an airtight container right after they bake and cool down, then frost them a day or two ahead before you’ll be eating them.
