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Robert's Chocolate Cookies: a no-fail make-ahead cookie dough that subs as a rich nearly flourless brownie nugget, packed with chocolate chunks and walnuts.
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This recipe is part of Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies.

Maya's Lemon Wafers

Posted by jenny on 01/11/2010
in
Maya's Lemon Wafers

Emma had copied Maya's Lemon Wafers recipe from Cookies and Brownies, and her family graciously offered to serve as guinea pigs for her testing. She's a meticulous and precise baker (just why I love working with her!), and she had this to say about this recipe:

I was initially worried about the lemon flavor after having to cook the juice for so long because it seemed like I was going to lose that fresh lemon taste. The dough came together easily and holds in the refrigerator for several days without issue. It is a very soft dough so chilling well is important, the thin cookie can be a little tricky to handle if you let the dough warm up too much after cutting before moving them to your baking sheet so I suggest only pulling out one of the 4 pieces at a time. I put the sheet of cookies back in the fridge while waiting for the oven to come to temp which helps them keep their shape.

The baked cookies were lightly browned on the edges and had a sweet but fresh lemony zing to them with a nice snap when bitten into. The cookies can soften up quickly once cool so if you want to keep them crisp store them in an airtight container as soon as cooled. The dough holds up to re-rolling several times without a noticeable change in texture. Because these cookies are rolled very thin I would suggest making sure your lemon zest is very fine.

A few notes about this recipe:

  • Used Santa Cruz Organic Lemon Juice instead of fresh squeezed (IMO as close to fresh as bottled juice can get)
  • Used 1/4-1/2 tsp lemon oil to make up for the lack of fresh lemon zest.


Maya's Lemon Wafers
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
12 T unsalted butter, cut into several pieces
2+1/4C AP flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 c sugar
4 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp salt

Equipment
2 cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper or greased
2+1/2" cookie cutter, round or any shape

  1. Heat the lemon juice in a small non-reactive saucepan over high heat. Boil for about 5 minutes, or until thick and syrupy and reduced to about 1 T.
  2. Add the butter and stir until melted. Set aside.
  3. Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or a fork. Set aside.
  4. Using a spoon or a rubber spatula, mix the egg, egg yolk, and sugar in a large bowl until homogeneous. 
  5. Mix in the butter mixture, lemon zest, and salt.
  6. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated.
  7. Cover and chill at least 20 minutes.
  8. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece 1/16" thick between 2 sheets of plastic from a plastic bag or wax paper. Slide a cookie sheet under the plastic sheets and dough.
  9. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes or up to 2 days. 
  10. Preheat the oven to 400F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
  11. Remove 1 piece of dough from the refrigerator. 
  12. Peel off and reserve the top sheet of plastic or paper. Invert the dough onto it and peel off the second sheet.
  13. Use a cookie cutter to cut out 2+1/2" cookies or any desired size or shape.
  14. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the cookie sheets.
  15. Repeat with the remaining dough. Scraps may be pressed together and rerolled.
  16. Bake for 6 - 7 minutes, or until lightly browned at the edges.
  17. Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.
  18. Slide the parchment liners onto racks or use a metal pancake turner to transfer cookies from the pan to a rack. Cool cookies completely before stacking or storing. 
  19. Store cookies in an airtight container as soon as they are cool.

Yield
Makes 64 2+1/2 inch cookies

Storage
May be stored for at least 1 week

Source
This recipe comes from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies, and is available on Purple House Dirt with permission from the author.

Comments

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Thank you for your comments!

Submitted by jenny on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 11:32am.

These are terrific lemon cookies - thanks for leaving me a note that you'd stopped by! I hope you're able to use this recipe sometime too.

Best,
Jenny

Those look SO delicious! I

Submitted by Teanna (not verified) on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 7:52am.

Those look SO delicious! I love anything lemon and am really craving a bite of these!

lemon love

Submitted by Stacy (not verified) on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 5:20pm.

As a lover of all things lemon, these look delicious. They also sadden me because of the reminder that I do not have cute little cookie cutters. Sooooo sad.

Lemon Wafers

Submitted by Sortachef (not verified) on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 2:43pm.

I had some elderly aunts that loved to make biscuits like this. Thanks for taking me back!