Recipe: Other herbs also work in this delicate treat
Lemon says "winter" to me as much as cinnamon and ginger do. It must be because Californians' lemon trees -- the Meyers, Eurekas and other varieties -- this time of year are full of beautiful yellow fruit, contrasting so nicely with the shiny green leaves.
Lemon also is a wonderful partner with fresh herbs. When I went looking for a lemon cookie recipe, I found quite a few that incorporated thyme and some that had rosemary, but the one that caught my attention included fresh mint. Alternative herbs mentioned included lemon balm -- which is also part of the mint family -- and lemon verbena. That recipe I had to try. (It's at landolakes.com , if you want to see the original.)
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Lemon and mint are complementary flavors. The leaves from
these mint snippings produced 2 tablespoons chopped mint.
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Meanwhile, I have half of this first batch already rolled and frozen, reserved for another grey winter day.
Lemon minted sugar cookies
Makes about 50 two-inch cookies
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I baked two dozen cookies and froze the rest of the batch
for another day.
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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Jan. 29
Bundle up and get work done!
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees, except apricot and cherry trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom or sprouting new growth. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Feed with an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t feed your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Feeding while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. Avoid spraying on windy days.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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