Lemon Butter Crumb Cookies

Position a rack in the middle of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 325°.

Trace nine 3 1/2" circles on each of two pieces of parchment paper the size of your baking sheets, leaving 1" between the circles.

Line the baking sheets with the paper, marked side down.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla until smoothly blended, about 1 minute.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.

Add the flour and mix until the dough forms small crumbs, varying in size from fine crumbs to about 1/4" in size.

Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop up 1/4 cup crumbs and spread them in one of the marked circles.

Pat the crumbs gently to fill the circle, but do not pack them tightly.

Sprinkle about 1 tbls of loose crumbs over the top. To produce the crumbly looking top.

Repeat to make a total of 18 cookies.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the bottoms and edges are light brown, about 21 minutes.

The centers of the cookies should still be a lighter pale golden color.

Cool the cookies for 10 minutes on baking sheets, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely (some crumbs may fall off the edges) do not try to transfer the cookies before 10 minutes -- they must cool and firm slightly so they will not break.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar.

The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days.