Lemon Dinosaur Cookies

A few weeks ago I bought a book for Henry and Peter. It's How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.  What prompted this purchase was the seeming disappearance (soon to be found, we hope)  of a beloved DVD, also by Jane Yolen, entitled "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" which was one of those random five-dollar purchases from an end cap at Target.  Every now and then I like to buy the boys a little something, and this DVD was a treasure from the first time the boys watched it.  I went back to Target to see if I could find another copy, but there wasn't one single copy in the store, and it looks like I'll find its replacement online.  BUT, in the children's book section I found the related cookie book and the boys love it.  It's a charming board book with beautiful illustrations.  It's a scratch-and-sniff book with scents like those you'd find in my kitchen -- cinnamon, lemon, chocolate chip cookie -- and the real surprise was when we came to the end and found two recipes!  The first is for Cinnama-Saurus Rex cookies, and the other is for "Fossilized Lemon Tracks" cookies.

Before they went camping up at Lake George for Memorial Day weekend, Katie used the lemon cookie recipe from the book.  A few days before, we had taken a ride to the nearby  Waterwheel Village Country Store (near Galway, New York) where Katie bought a set of dinosaur cookie cutters she'd seen on an earlier visit.  She used about a fourth of the dough for their camping trip, and froze the rest.  Tonight, after dinner, she asked the boys if they wanted to make more dinosaur cookies, and of course, they said yes!

Here's the recipe, followed by a few photos of their baking session tonight.

Fossilized Lemon Tracks
(aka lemon sugar cut-out dinosaur cookies)
from "How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies?" by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

INGREDIENTS
1 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract (Katie didn't have any; she used lemon rind)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Extra sugar:  1/4 - 1/2 cup white sugar (do not mix into dough)

1.  Ask an adult to help you bake, and wash your hands
2.  In a large bowl, stir the butter with an electric mixer or large spoon.
3.  Add each ingredient in order (except for the extra sugar), mixing well each time.  At the end, you will need to wash your hands.
4.  Roll the dough into small balls.
5.  Sprinkle the extra sugar on a place and roll the dough balls around until coated.  Place them on the cookie sheet with space between them.  (Katie chose to roll the dough out, sugar-cookie style).
6.  Press "dino tracks" into each cookie dough ball with a chopstick, or the handle of a spoon, or some other kitchen tool.  Experiment with making different kinds of "tracks."  Press them in hard enough to squish the dough down by half.
7.  Bake for 9-12 minutes at 375 degrees F.  Let them cool 2 minutes before removing with spatula.
8.  Eat and share!

After dinner cookie session with  the boys...