Shelly's Recipe

ICED CRACKLE CITRUS COOKIES

Category: Cookies

Dough:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated citrus zest (Meyer or regular lemon, tangerine or lime)
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (for tangerine cookies, use 1 teaspoon orange extract and delete lemon extract)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons colored sanding sugar (yellow, orange or green, depending on flavor of cookie)
1 tablespoon finely grated citrus zest (same flavor as cookie)
2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed citrus juice (same flavor as cookie)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat butter in medium-size bowl with electric mixer on medium-high until smooth. Add sugar and citrus zest and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. (The creaming is important to get a great texture, so don’t skimp here.) Add yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl. Stir dry ingredients into the wet mixture, mixing at low speed to make a soft dough.

Scoop dough into rounded heaping tablespoons with cookie scoop or measuring spoon. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on lightly greased pans. Freeze on pans at least 30 minutes.

Bake cookies, straight from the freezer, until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool.

Icing: Mix powdered sugar, colored sugar and appropriate flavored zest in medium bowl. Add citrus juice and mix with electric mixer to make a firm but pourable icing. (If needed, add up to 1 teaspoon more juice, but keep in mind that if the icing is too loose, it won’t set.) Dip rounded side of cooled cookies into icing, then let excess fall back into the bowl. Dry cookies icing-side-up on a rack.

Makes about 3 dozen.