Yay! I’m glad you weren’t soured (ha, pun) on the whole experience. Sprouted spelt for the win 
This is definitely going to launch me into hyper-proofreading of ingredient list mode for a long time.
It happens in the best families.
I hope you find something useful here:
Ingredients.
It is crucial that the butter, sugar, and eggs are at a temperature between 65-72 °F.
Utensils.
I use a spatula and a hand whisk with stiff wires. The spatula is good for keeping everything together while beating. The whisk whips the batter more effectively and faster, but if it’s too thick, it tends to get stuck inside the whisk.
If your spatula is too soft, a wooden spoon is a better choice, but as with the whisk, you will also need a spatula or a bowl scraper to scrape down the batter.
Method.
Start beating the butter alone. When it’s creamy, add the sugar and continue beating. Depending on the amount of sugar in the recipe, you may need to add it gradually. There will be no butter lumps and no problem incorporating the sugar.
When it’s fluffy, start adding the eggs one at a time. Continue beating until it’s light enough to fold in the dry ingredients.
If the batter is too liquid before all the eggs are added, as with some muffins, add 1/3 of the flour before continuing with the remaining eggs.
Tips.
If the room temperature is low, keep a pot of hot water handy in case you need to warm the mixing bowl.
The same precautions should be applied when using a mixer.
When I had to use forks because there was no whisk available, I did this to increase effectiveness:
Very helpful tips – thank you. Getting the butter smoothed out before adding the sugar makes a lot of sense. I’ve never had an issue with the final product when I let the batter get liquid and funny looking before adding the flour, but I’m going to defer to your cookie expertise! I like your two-fork whisk.
I’m far from being a cookie expert. I just mess around in the kitchen with a little bit of everything and this butter dough appears in various preparations.
You never had a problem with a separated butter because you probably always used baking powder. When it happens you simply warm it up and continue beating. I make several doughs that have no baking powder or soda and rely only on well creamed butter, so I had to learn to do it right in cold and hot weather.
Here is a video from Baking with Julia with pastry chef Markus Färbinger. Around minute seven, the butter starts to separate and he shows how he fixes it.
These are just wonderful! Refrigerated dough
for 2 hours, rolled per directions and baked. I bake for the coffee shop at my senior community every week and this was a huge hit!
Yay! 
I’m so glad they were a hit (and that you tried the recipe after the sugar amount was fixed!)
Made these with kumquats! They were tasty, though I wish I upped the juice to 1/2 cup. I baked these for my daughter’s daycare for Valentines treats and they were fantastic. Thank you!
I’m so impressed you zested and juiced tiny kumquats. Sounds delicious.
That explains the lovely lemon frisbee candies I have in my kitchen so, so well. 
Did you print the recipe prior to Feb 5 when it was fixed? 
I’m so sorry about that.
Alas, I printed the recipe the day it was originally posted—they look so pretty—and it just took me this long to get around to them. They’re still pretty! 
I’m just glad the explanation is so simple. I’ll definitely try making them the right way again. The hint of turmeric while they baked was heavenly.
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