Cookies Year-Round

What Rose Levy Beranbaum did for The Cake Bible she translates successfully in her Rose’s Christmas Cookies cook book. Beautifully chock-full of colored photographs of imaginative creations, the recipes are easy to follow with that personally-instructed feel that is her trademark. I especially liked the whimsical Chapter on Cookies to Make for and/or with Kids because it reminded me of my own childhood and how happy we all were that our mom (no matter how busy she was) would always keep the cookie jars full. The prettiest cookie in this book would have to be her Stained Glass cookies, which is an ingenious combination of a rolled sugar cookie and hard candies. After the cookie is rolled and cut, shapes are cut out in the center and filled with different colored crushed hard candies. The candies melt when baked and is transformed into “stained glass windows”. There is a cookie for every occasion on every page, not just for Christmas, and with 6 Chapters of cookie recipes to choose from you will not run out of ideas.

Just like in most of Ms. Beranbaum’s cook books, the ingredients are in cup and weight measurements. You also have an option if you want to use your food processor or the electric mixer. Either way all the recipes I’ve tried are very easy to put together. One favorite (and there are a lot!) from this book is the The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar. Often times it is the simplest recipe that is the most difficult to get just right. Before I tried her recipe I thought I had the tangiest, yummiest, most buttery tasting lemon bar recipe in the world, problem was the lemon curd for the topping was inconsistent. One day it was excellent and the next mediocre. All that changed when I tried this recipe. The lemon curd topping is wonderful and I use it now not just to make bar cookies but also as a topping to make little dainty lemon tarts. I prefer to use the food processor to mix this recipe so that is the only method I included here. If you have never read a cook book by Ms. Beranbaum then you will be surprised and relieved by the time and care she takes to instruct the baker minutely from the mixing to the actual cutting of the finished product.

Rose’s Christmas Cookie Book by Rose Levy Beranbaum Published by William Morrow and Company, Inc. Copyright 1990

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The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar

“This classic cookie combines two of my favorite sweets: buttery-tender Scottish shortbread and satiny lilting English lemon curd. The problem has always been getting a firm enough topping and avoiding a soggy shortbread base. The special technique discovered for this recipe virtually guaranteed success” page 163, Chapter 6 Cookies For Holiday Dinner Parties

Shortbread Base
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1½ cups (dip and sweep method) bleached all purpose flour

Equipment: 8”x8”x2” baking pan, preferably metal (if using a glass pan, lower the oven temperature 25*F.), bottom and 2 sides lined with an 8”x16” strip of heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Lemon Curd Topping
4 large egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
3 fluid ounces lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 2½ large lemons)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons lemon zest (finely grated)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar for dusting

Shortbread Base

Food Processor Method:
Cut the butter into 1” cubes, wrap it, and refrigerate.

In a food processor fitted 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 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.

Lemon Curd Topping

Have a strainer, suspended over a bowl, ready near the range.

In a heavy non-corrodible 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 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.