Cream shortening with butter until fluffy and then blend in white sugar, and brown sugar. Add in eggs, vanilla, orange, lemon and almond extracts. Mix salt, baking soda and flour and fold into batter, blending to make a firm dough. Form dough into balls - golf ball size for huge cookies, smaller for more modest ones. Toss cookies in a paper bag filled with about l cup of sugar to coat.
Place cookies on sheet, allowing two to three inches between each.
Press cookies down, using a glass dipped in sugar. For a more crackly cookie, brush sugared cookies with water and re-sprinkle with sugar to achieve the crispy tops. Bake 10-12 minutes until cookie edges are very lightly browned. Remove, using a large metal spatula and cool on rack. Cookies crisp up as they cool and become less fragile.