Monday, December 11, 2006

How about these cookies?

Oh yeah! - Its time to get your bake on.
Thanks to Jen for The First Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange idea. Wow. what a good one.

This recipe is from a Gourmet magazine a few years back. I love Sara Moulton. I don't see her as often on Food Network anymore, which is shame. She is the really deal - not one of those eye candy chefs who seems to be holding a wooden spoon for the first time in their lives. I digress.
Try these little lemon sandwhich cookies and you'll never pick up another oreo. Maybe.

Petite Lemon Curd Cookies

Basic Butter Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Lemon curd:
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar for dredging and dusting

To make the cookies:Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer (preferably fitted with paddle attachment) or 6 with a handheld. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and mix until just combined.
Form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

To make the lemon curd: Simmer lemon juice, zest, sugar, butter, cornstarch, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Lightly beat yolks in a small bowl, then add 1/4 cup lemon mixture, whisking. Add yolk mixture to remaining lemon mixture, then reduce heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, then cover surface with plastic wrap and chill while rolling out dough.

Back to the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. While oven preheats, roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into a 9-inch round (slightly less than 1/4-inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, chill on a baking sheet until firm.) Cut out as many cookies as possible with 1 ¼” round cutter.

Bake cookies until edges are golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Dredge warm cookies in confectioners' sugar until coated and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Make more cookies in same manner.

Put them all together: Transfer lemon curd to pastry bag or plastic bag (snip an 1/8-inch opening in a corner of plastic bag). Put 1 cookie upside down on work surface and pipe about 1/2 teaspoon lemon curd onto cookie, then top with another cookie, right side up, to form a sandwich. Make more sandwiches in same manner.

Just before serving, sift some remaining confectioners' sugar over tops of sandwiched cookies.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks!