If you have a liking for lemon, these cookies are for you. The lemon zest and juice infuses the cookies with a sweet tang, which is accentuated by a lemon glaze. As happens with great food, a little goes a long way, and these cookies pack in the flavour so that you're satisfied after having a couple.
The recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook, a great book that illustrates most of its recipes in detail. Let's get baking.
INGREDIENTS
For the Cookies
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- The grated peel of two lemons
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (one and a half sticks), cut into small pieces and chilled
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For the Glaze
- 1 tablespoon softened cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
- Optional food colouring
EQUIPMENT
- A food processor
- A citrus grater
Setup your food processor. Add sugar and grated lemon peel. Pulse for 30 seconds until it is well mixed and fragrant.
Add flour, salt and baking powder. Pulse 10 times until well combined.
Add chilled butter pieces and pulse about 15 times until it looks like wet sand.
Mix the egg yolk and lemon juice in a separate bowl.
Add mixture to food processor while processor is running. It will clump and separate from sides.
Remove dough from processor and onto counter. Shape into a long cylinder, about 10 inches long, and wrap with wax or parchment paper.
Place in your freezer for 2 hours.
After 2 hours have passed, preheat oven to 375˚F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Take the dough from the freezer, and using a sturdy and sharp knife, cut dough into 3/8 inch thick rounds. Rotate the cylinder as you cut to retain the shape.
Place rounds on baking sheets, 1 inch apart from each other.
Place sheets on upper middle and lower middle racks. Bake for 14 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from oven, let cool 5 minutes in sheets, and transfer to cooling racks.
Let the cookies cool completely.
Prepare the glaze by mixing the cream cheese, lemon juice and confectioner's sugar in a bowl.
Once the glaze is done and the cookies have cooled completely, spoon a little glaze onto the surface. I divided my glaze and used a small amount with food colouring to sprinkle red glaze over the white glaze. Whatever you use, make sure you let the glaze set before transferring the cookies to serving dishes.
