1. Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the poppy seeds and lemon zest. Beat in the egg, and then mix/knead in the flour until the mixture comes together into a soft dough.

2. Cover the dough with plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight, till cold.

3. Remove the dough from the fridge, knead to soften slightly, and roll out on a surface dusted with flour. Keep the dough from sticking by periodically lifting the dough to dust more flour underneath, and rotating the dough regularly to keep it from sticking too much. You will want it about ¼-inch thick by the time you are done.


   Tip: I usually roll the dough a couple of times in each direction, and then lift it or move it to dust underneath. Repeat this until you reach the desired thickness.

4. Dip the sharp edge of your cookie cutters into the flour, and press into the dough, close together (but be careful not to cut into other cookies!) so that you get the most number from the dough that you can.

5. Lift the cookies onto parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheets. Collect the leftover scraps into a ball; re-roll and cut, the same as before. Repeat until you have the dough used up. 


   Tip: When you get down to the last little bit of dough, I usually just roll the rest of it into little balls and flatten them into little round cookies with a fork or my fingers.

6. Bake at 350 degrees F (or 170 degrees C) for 8-12 minutes or until just golden around the edges of some of the cookies. Cool on wire racks. 
Glaze.

   Note: The cookies will spread, but not a lot – you can put them pretty close together to bake.

Lemon Glaze

1. Combine the icing sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl; stir until smooth.

2. Dip the cookies upside down into the glaze and gently smooth the tops by scraping them against the side of the bowl.

3. Set the cookies right side up on cookie sheets to dry, about 2 hours.

4. Gently touch the surface of the cookies to make sure the glaze has set before storing in airtight containers.