My Favorite Cookie Recipe

3 sticks butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
zest of one lemon

Cream the sugars and lemon zest into the butter until well blended add in:

4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Genie's Dream Clearly Not Vanilla 

Mix till it is all well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together with a whisk the following dry ingredients:

1 teaspoon pink sea salt (regular salt is ok too)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
5 cups of flour

Add dry ingredients to your butter, sugar, egg mixture a little at a time and then mix until the dough comes together.  If the dough is still a little sticky, you can add in more flour a bit at a time (no more than 1/4 cup).
Divide dough into 3 balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours (you AND your dough). While you are at, it put your cookie sheets in there, too (trust Genie you will thank her later).

When you are getting ready to roll, preheat your oven to 400° F.

Genie rolls her dough between 2 sheets of parchment on her UltiMat (to keep it from slipping around on the counters). If you didn't add in additional flour as noted above then you may want to dust the dough with a little flour before you roll it out the first time to prevent sticking.

Genie tosses the rolled out sheets into the fridge while she rolls out the remaining dough. 

Place the cut out cookies on a cold cookie sheet and if the dough is softening up then chill the
cookies on the sheet another few minutes. (These steps are essential to keep the cookies from spreading).

Genie rolls her dough 3/8" thick so she bakes at 400°F, (in her oven), for about 10-12 minutes.  But if you roll the dough thinner, you will want to start checking them about 6 minutes to be sure they don't over bake.  Since oven temps vary from oven to oven please keep an eye on the cookies until you know how long it takes in YOUR oven.