Everyday Any Way Lemon-Poppy Seed Shortbread

Shortbread

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks, plus more for the pan

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, plus more for the pan

⅓ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon pure lemon oil or extract

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Optional icing

½ cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 to 2 tablespoons milk or fresh lemon juice

Poppy seeds or sanding sugar (yellow is nice), for sprinkling (optional)

For the shortbread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a little butter to grease an 8-inch round cake pan, dust the interior with a little flour and tap out any excess. (If you're using a glass pan or pie plate, line it with a parchment paper circle before buttering and flouring.)

Toss the granulated sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer that you'll fit with the paddle attachment or into a large bowl in which you can use a hand mixer. Add the lemon zest and rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter to the bowl and, working on medium speed, beat until the mixture is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and the lemon oil or extract. Turn off the mixer, add the flour all at once, then mix on low speed.

Once the flour is incorporated, add the poppy seeds and continue to mix on low until you've got a bowl of soft, moist curds and crumbs, about 2 minutes. Squeeze a few curds and if they hold together, you're there. You don't want to mix the dough until it comes together uniformly, but you do want it the curds to cling to one another.

Turn the crumbs into the pan and pat them down evenly. If you'd like to smooth the top, "roll" the crumbs using a spice or extract bottle as a rolling pin. (You can also tap down the crumbs with the bottom of a small measuring cup.) There's no need to be overly forceful; the point is to knit the crumbs together and compress them. Use the tines of a dinner fork to create the demarcations that will form 12 wedges total; press straight down so that you hear the metal tap against the pan, pricking holes in the dough. Finish by pressing the flat side of the tines horizontally around the edges of the dough, as if you were crimping a pie crust, to create a decorative edge.

Bake the shortbread (middle rack) for about 25 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back after 12 minutes, or until the top feels firm to the touch and the edges have a tinge of color; the center of the shortbread should remain fairly pale.

Transfer the pan to a wire cooling rack and allow it to rest for 3 minutes. If the holes that defined the wedges have closed, re-prick them with the fork. Carefully run a table knife between the pan and the shortbread and even more carefully turn the shortbread over onto the rack. Peel away the paper, if you used it. Invert onto a cutting board and, using a long sturdy knife or a bench scraper, cut the shortbread along the pricked lines; lift the pieces back onto the rack and allow the wedges to cool to room temperature before icing or serving.

Makes 12 cookies.

To make the icing and finish the cookies (optional): Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl, add 1 tablespoon milk or lemon juice and stir to blend. If the icing is too thick to brush, spread or drizzle smoothly and easily, add more milk or juice drop by drop. If you'd like, you can just drizzle the icing over each wedge or, using a pastry brush or a small icing spatula, you can ice each wedge, covering the whole wedge or leaving the borders bare. Sprinkle just a few grains of poppy seeds or sugar on each wedge, if you'd like, and let the icing set at room temperature before serving or storing.

Nutrition: Per cookie: 140 calories, 1 g protein, 15 g carbohydrates, 8 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 6 g sugar