These citrusy buttery delights were something I’d been longing to make ever since I stumbled upon Pioneer Woman’s recipe (here)
For whatever reason’s I kept postponing because procrastination is one of my super powers. Somehow after my man nagged me for a batch of fresh cookies which weren’t chocolate, I figured this is the time I make these citrus drops.
I altered the original recipe a bit because in my remote Chinese town, where even blogging can become a problem, I didn’t have all the ingredients necessary, but somehow I tweaked a bit and these came out ,oh so fabulous, oh so mouth-watering and oh so citrusy, that I imagine the original recipe must have been absolutely off the charts.
This wasn’t difficult, in fact it was one of the easier cookie recipes and so much fun to make.. so here goes.
The ingredients really easy and quick to assemble. Butter, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour.
As with most cookies out there, it begins fairly easy by creaming the butter which becomes a lot harder if it isn’t at room temperature. Also you don’t have to cream it’s soul. Just a minute would do, or even less.
In with the sugar
followed by the egg yolk
I’d really hoped the yolk maintained it’s integrity but NO!
Beat the butter, sugar and egg yolk and add the zest of both lemon and orange, but also reserve a bit for later, which we will come to in a bit.
now the flour
beat that all together and you’d probably end up with a bit crumbly mixture. It’s really not a problem, because now you add some orange juice
and some lemon juice
Mix well and it shall all clump into this sunny yellow glorious dough. Just a faint whiff and you’d faint.
Roll into balls. It’s almost as if I’m moulding a sun.
this is just to let you know how big these were. I scooped out using my melon scooper. These were the prettiest things I saw all week.
Lay them out on a parchment paper, so as to avoid any stick up that might happen.
Behold the mighty yellow kisses of sun.. I baked mine for some 15 minutes at 190℃ . I also flattened their tops a bit using the back of a glass before pushing them in the oven. Can you see the orange specks of the zest? Let these cool, while we get on with the icing.
The icing is simple enough. Lemon and orange zest, meringue powder, lemon and orange juice. It’s actually royal icing, but I’m not too sure about the eggs here, so instead of making them with egg whites, I used meringue powder instead. But if you have your own royal icing recipe using egg whites, please feel free.
This is just Meringue powder, lemon and orange juice, the zests and powdered sugar, all beaten into a frenzy to create…..
THIS!!! isn’t this beautiful? the consistency is really up to you, but i like thick fat icing ribbons so I didn’t let it get too thin a drizzle.
Using a spoon,or a piping bag if you want more elegance, lay on the icing as you wish, however you want.
Absolutely unsure fat patterns. Also before the icing dries don’t forget to put some more strands of zest on these babies.
See??
These are sugary, buttery bites of citrus in your mouth. Your cheeks will feel it, you will love it and your man, well mine kept lurking until the last pictures were taken, and then these were devoured rather mercilessly.
These have to be made to be believed, and you’d feel oh so competent about yourself..
Thanks a lot Pioneer Woman for these full flavoured bites of citrus love.
Ingredients
200 gms Butter
150 gms sugar
1 large egg separated
200 gms all-purpose flour
30 gms of lemon zest and orange zest (roughly 2 tablespoons)
40 mls each of lemon and orange juice
ICING
Meringue powder (as mentioned on the box)
30 gms of orange & lemon zest + extra for decoration.
30 mls tbsp orange and lemon juice
For the consistency I had, I used about 30 gms (around 2 tbsps) of meringue powder, 50 gms powdered sugar, scant amount of water and 30 mls (about 2 tbsps) each of orange and lemon juice. But really it’s up to you. You might want to go thicker or thinner with the icing.
Instructions
Cream the butter (make sure the butter is at room temperature), add in the sugar and egg yolk. Beat again to mix and add in the zest and the flour. Beat until it’s more or less mixed and finally add in the juice and beat to combine.
Scoop out equal sized balls using a melon scooper, or however your MO is and roll them into balls. Line on a parchment paper and slightly flatten their tops using the back of a glass. Bake at 190℃ for 15 minutes and let cool completely before icing.
Meringue icing as per instructions or as I mentioned above for the consistency I got. Decorate your now cooled cookies as you desire, or just go for a not so subtle pattern and drizzle the remaining zest before the icing dries off. Remember to let the icing set before unleashing yourself.
Driedredchillies 