Holiday gifts for the neighbors this year was my traditional Meyer lemon curd and shortbread. I don’t know why it’s become my tradition – probably because it’s really delicious and easy to make. This year I included some of these tasty cornmeal shortbread cookies, also easy to make. I love the addition of cornmeal to shortbread. These come out of yet another baking book I’ve checked out from the library – The Craft of Baking. Looks like a great book so far, although the baking time on these cookies is long. About 20 minutes was all it took.

• Thick Scottish Shortbread (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies (The Craft of Baking, p. 62)