Adventures In Lemony Treats
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My nephew (the favorite one, who just went off to college) loves all things lemon. As a child, he was known to just eat a whole lemon, skin and all. So now that my mother and I are taking turns sending him care packages (because apparently, he’s “starving” in college), I thought it might be nice to send him a lemony treat.
My first thought was candied citrus. To that end, I bought some organic lemons and grapefruit, sliced them up, and set them into water to boil for about 30 minutes. This sojourn in boiling water accomplished two things: first, it softened up the fruit; and second, it removed much of the bitterness from the rind. I tasted the water before I discarded it…it was VERY bitter. The next step was to immerse the fruit slices into boiling simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar) and let them simmer in the syrup until they started to go translucent.
At that point, I removed the slices to a rack to let them dry out for a day. The final step was to dip them in sugar and send them off, but of course I couldn’t do that without a proper taste test. I dipped a piece in sugar and then munched on it. It was sweet (from the sugar) and still slightly bitter (from the rind). But there was no citrus-y sourness to it at all. In fact, there was no citrus flavor to it at all. Just bitterness and sweetness. I taste-tested a couple more pieces just to be sure, and then chucked all the rest in the trash. Very disappointing.
After a day or so of thinking about my options, I decided to try making lemon gum drops. The recipe was quite simple…fresh lemon juice, gelatin, honey, and boiling water. Mix it all together and then let it set in some kind of mold in the fridge. I opted to let it set in my long/skinny ice cube tray. Side note: that ice cube tray is brilliant. It makes ice cubes that you can easily drop into the mouth of a water bottle.
After a couple hours in the fridge, the “gum drops” were firm, so I unmolded them, cut them into bite-size pieces, and dipped each piece in sugar. Now I probably should have anticipated what happened next, but in my own defense, I don’t “jello” very often. (However, I do often “verb” nouns, which annoys and entertains my mother in about equal measure. English is a living language, Mom.) As the little lemon cubes sat at room temperature, covered in sugar, it took only a few minutes for the outsides to become wet and sticky. Apparently, these would need to stay refrigerated, which meant they could not be shipped to my nephew in a care package. Dang it. A taste test revealed that they did taste deliciously lemony. Nonetheless, I threw them out and had another think.
For my third try, I opted for lemon shortbread cookies and at last…success! I do like shortbread…not those cookies that sit around in a tin for weeks at Christmas time, but real, fresh, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies. The recipe I’m about to share is very easy, doesn’t take much time, and results in a light, perfect shortbread cookie that is delicately lemon-flavored. You could add a lemon glaze (powdered sugar and lemon juice) to these cookies, but I feel that glazing shortbread is a little disrespectful, so I did not do it.
The method, followed by the recipe: put your sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and grate your lemon zest right on top of it. Then use your fingers to rub the lemon zest into the sugar. The sharp edges of the sugar crystals help to get every last bit of the fresh lemon oil out of the zest.
Add your salt and beat in the butter until it’s all smooth; then add your lemon juice, and egg yolk. Finally, add in the flour and beat it until it comes together in a dough.
Roll out the dough to 1/4” thickness (these little bands make this very easy) on a lightly floured surface, and then cut out the cookies, using about a 2” circular cutter. Place the cookies onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and prick each cookie once with a fork. Put the baking sheet into the fridge for 20 minutes to let the cookies firm up, and then bake at 300º for 16-22 minutes. Your goal is to have the underside of the cookie be lightly golden. Let the cookies cool completely on a rack before serving. Easy-peasy!
As with many cookie recipes, you can freeze the cookie dough for use later. Cut them out and prick them, then lay them out on a baking sheet covered with parchment or waxed paper and let them freeze. Once they are frozen, they can be removed to an airtight container. They will keep in the freezer for up to three months. Once you are ready to bake them, just take them right out of the freezer and follow the baking directions above. There is no need to thaw them, although you might need to add a few minutes to the baking time. Enjoy!
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg yolk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 3/4 cups flour
DIRECTIONS
Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Zest the lemon directly onto the sugar and then use your fingers to rub the zest thoroughly into the sugar. Add the butter and salt and beat with until the mixture is smooth, which usually takes a couple minutes.
Scrape down the bowl, and add the egg yolk and lemon juice. Mix just until ingredients are incorporated. Add all the flour and mix on low speed until the flour is mixed in. Then mix on medium speed until the ingredients come together and form a dough.
Roll out the cookie dough on a lightly floured surface. Add only enough flour to the dough and work surface to keep the dough from sticking. Roll dough out to 1/4” thickness and use a 2” round cutter to cut out your cookies. Prick each cookie in the center with a fork (to let out steam).
Place your cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 300º. Bake cookies for 16-22 minutes. When they are done, the edges and bottom will be lightly golden. Cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Makes 40-50 cookies.
NOTES
If desired, uncooked cookies can be frozen for up to three months in an airtight container. Flash freeze the cookies individually before putting them in your container. When you are ready to bake them, they can be baked frozen. You might need to add a few minutes to the cooking time.
