Citrus Egg Yolk Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease or line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat sugar and butter together in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat egg yolks, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and orange extract together in another bowl. Add egg yolk mixture to butter mixture; beat well.
• Sift flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar together in a bowl. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is well-blended. Roll dough into walnut-size balls and place on prepared baking sheets. Press dough balls to slightly flatten.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden around the edges and set, 8 to 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Add butter, 1 1/4 cups/154 grams confectioners' sugar, and lemon zest to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sugar is moistened, then turn the mixer to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the lemon juice and egg yolk. Mix to combine.
• Reduce the speed to low, add the flour, cornstarch and salt, and mix until just combined.
• Divide the dough into 2 pieces and set each piece on a length of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Fold the paper over the sticky dough, and use your hands to form it into a cylinder about 1 1/2 inches wide. Roll the cylinder a few times to help shape it, but don't worry if it isn't perfect. Chill the dough until completely firm, at least 2 hours.
• When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Slice the dough into rounds just under 1/4-inch thick and arrange them at least 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 12 to 17 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway though. The cookies should be golden around the edges, but not brown all of the way through.
• Set the pans on cooling racks and cool for a few minutes. Dust both sides of the warm cookies with the remaining 3/4 cup/92 grams confectioners' sugar. Let the cookies cool completely, then store at room temperature in an airtight container. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar just before serving, if desired.

Steps:

• Press hard-cooked egg yolks through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in cooked egg yolks and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-in. fluted cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush with egg yolk., Bake until lightly browned, 12-14 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Steps:

• EQUIPMENT:
• 8-inch by 8-inch by 2-inch baking pan, preferably metal (if using a glass pan, lower the oven temperature 25°F.), bottom and 2 sides lined with an 8-inch by 16-inch strip of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
• SHORTBREAD BASE
• Food Processor Method
• Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes, wrap it, and refrigerate.
• In a food processor with the metal blade, process the sugars for 1 minute or so, until the sugar is very fine. Add the butter and pulse in until the sugar disappears. Add the flour and pulse in until there are a lot of little moist crumbly pieces and no dry flour particles remain.
• Dump the mixture into a plastic bag and press it together. Remove the dough from the plastic bag and knead it lightly, until it holds together.
• Electric Mixer Method or by Hand
• In Scotland, it is said that the best shortbread is mixed with the fingers and that each woman's fingers lend something distinctive and special to the finished cookie. I find that the texture is more delicate when the dough is mixed with the fingers rather than in a machine. For either method, use superfine sugar for the best texture and be sure to soften the butter.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugars. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. With your fingers or with the electric mixer, mix in the flour until incorporated. If using the mixer, add the flour in 2 parts.
• For Both Methods
• Place 1 oven rack in the middle of the oven.
• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Pat the dough into the prepared pan. Use a fork to prick the dough all over.
• Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and the top is pale golden (do not brown).
• While the shortbread is baking, prepare the Lemon Curd Topping.
• LEMON CURD TOPPING
• Have a strainer, suspended over a bowl, ready near the range.
• In a heavy noncorrodible saucepan, beat the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon until well blended. Stir in the lemon juice, butter, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 6 minutes, until thickened and resembling hollandaise sauce, which thickly coats a wooden spoon but is still liquid enough to pour. (A candy thermometer will read 196°F.) The mixture will change from translucent to opaque and begin to take on a yellow color on the back of a wooden spoon. It must not be allowed to boil or it will curdle. (It will steam above 140°F. Whenever steaming occurs, remove the pan briefly from the heat, stirring constantly to prevent boiling.)
• When the curd has thickened, pour it at once into the strainer. Press it with the back of a spoon until only the coarse residue remains. Discard the residue. Stir in the lemon zest.
• When the shortbread is baked, remove it from the oven, lower the temperature to 300°F., pour the lemon curd on top of the shortbread, and return it to the oven for 10 minutes.
• Cool the lemon curd-topped shortbread completely in the pan on a wire rack. Refrigerate the pan for 30 minutes to set the lemon curd completely before cutting into bars. Place the powdered sugar in a strainer and tap the strainer with a spoon to sprinkle a thick, even coating, entirely covering the lemon.
• Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the pastry on the 2 sides without the aluminum foil. Use the foil to lift out the lemon curd-covered shortbread onto a cutting surface. Use a long, sharp knife to cut the shortbread first in thirds, then in half the other way, and then each half in thirds. Wipe the blade after each cut.
• The powdered sugar will start to be absorbed into the lemon curd after several hours, but it can be reapplied before serving.
• Store:
• In an airtight container at room temperature, or in the refrigerator or freezer.
• Keeps:
• 3 days at room temperature, 3 weeks refrigerated (individually wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent drying), or 3 months frozen.
• Smart Cookie
• • Cooking the topping before pouring it into the shortbread ensures crispness as opposed to the usual pastiness of the pastry.
• • Returning the curd to the oven, where it will be exposed to heat without stirring, causes the yolk to rebond, making it firm enough to cut after cooling.
• • If each lemon is heated about 10 seconds in a microwave oven on high power and rolled around while pressing on it lightly, it will release a significantly greater quantity of juice.
• • An aluminum pan should not be used to prepare the lemon curd because it will react with the egg yolks, turning them chartreuse.
• • Sugar raises the coagulation point of the egg yolk. It also protects it from premature coagulation during the addition of the lemon juice. If the juice were added directly to the unprotected yolk, the yolk would partially coagulate and, when strained, a large percentage of it would be left behind in the strainer. Be sure to mix the sugar well with the egg yolks before adding the juice.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Separately, beat egg yolks and add extracts and salt.
• Add beaten egg yolk mixture to creamed butter and sugar.
• Blend well.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and cream of tartar).
• Add dry ingredients to creamed butter, sugar and egg mixture, mixing until well blended.
• Form into balls about the size of a walnut.
• Roll balls in sugar, place on greased cookie sheet or parchment lined cookie sheet, and slightly flatten.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on desired softness/crispness.