When you just need a quickie...

... you can start by getting your heads out of the gutter, you filthy little minxes! I'm talking cookies here. This afternoon I have an hour before I need to run out the door and pick up the J's from school. Not usually a problem, but I feel like cookies. I have cookies in the house, yummy little Whole Wheat Fig Newtons, one of the only packaged cookies I really love. But when I feel like baking cookies, and I'm in a hurry, I have to get a bit creative. My quick cookie go-to is always chocolate chip (whose isn't?), but that requires thinking ahead and setting butter out to soften. Having not done the whole "thinking ahead" part, I thought "box."

I'm not a big purchaser of boxed cake mixes, but I do always have a big box of Bisquick on hand. I never use it. It's possible that the box I have now is the same box I bought 2 years ago. Anywho... it makes for good treats in a pinch.

Lemon Almond Tea Biscuits (cause really, they aren't sweet enough to be called cookies)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. Bisquick baking mix
3/4 c. almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1 lemon, juiced and zested
3 eggs

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add almonds to your chopper or food processor and pulverize them. Dump into a bowl with flour, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Beat eggs slightly, add to bowl and fold to combine.

Drop by large tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop) onto a greased baking sheet (I used my trusty Silpat, but parchment paper or cooking spray should do it). Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are golden. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Now they are yummy just like this, but they are not really sweet. They are fluffy and light little treats with subtle almond and lemon flavor. If you want them sweeter, whisk up a little powdered sugar, water and almond extract to make icing and drizzle it over the top. Want a teeny bit of sweet? Like you saw above? Well, then dust them with powdered sugar. If you haven't got a little sugar shaker, you can do what I now do thanks to my new issue of Real Simple:

Use a tea strainer. I'm telling you, those people are frickin' geniuses.

And there you go. Mixed, baked, cooled, decorated, and blogged in under an hour. Not bad. Sorry I didn't link a printable of this one, but I haven't got time to mess with Google Docs right now! I have to go pick up the kids before they start wandering around and get abducted or something. Ciao!