I entered into the Great American Cookie Swap this year.  I received red velvet peppermint cookies which my husband who is a mint an, loved.  They came fresh and soft which really added to them.  I also received a dark chocolate, dried cranberry, pistatio cookie.  They were also lovely and my oldest son was a big fan.  I made Lemon Crinkle Cookies from Lauren's Latest.  http://www.laurenslatest.com/lemon-crinkle-cookies/  I hope that my guest bloggers enjoyed them.  They were not a favorite with my family.  I would not make them again.  They turned out ok, but I have other lemon cookies that I prefer in taste.  I admit to forgetting to take a picture.  But I can say that they looked in comparison to Lauren's.

Ingredients:

½ cups Butter, Softened
1 cup Granulated Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 whole Egg
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
⅛ teaspoons Baking Soda
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
*If using a non stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.