Lemon Nut Star Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. Stir in sour cream and zest. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough into 3 balls; cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle., Remove 1 portion of dough from the refrigerator at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 2-in. star cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. , Bake at 375° for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool., For frosting, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, butter, extract, food coloring if desired and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Frost cookies; sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter, sugar and egg until well blended. Add lemon juice and zest. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Add almonds. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or overnight. , Roll into 1-in. balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned (cookies will not brown on top). , Remove immediately to wire racks; cool for 5 minutes, then roll in confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse together the nuts, flour, cornmeal, and salt until finely ground and smooth.
• Using a hand-held or stand mixer, beat together the butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a medium bowl until light and creamy. Add the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon zest, and vanilla and beat to combine. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches until just combined; be careful not to over-mix. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• In a shallow bowl, combine the remaining sugar with remaining zest. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Roll the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Transfer the dough onto cookie sheets and bake until firm and very pale golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.
• While the cookies are still warm, roll each cookie in the sugar mixture. To achieve a solid coating, roll each of the cookies a second time in the sugar mixture.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/ gas 4/fan 160C and grease 2 large baking sheets. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 5mm/¼in and cut out star biscuits using a 10cm cutter. Re-roll the trimmings make more biscuits.
• With a skewer, make a small hole 1cm/½in from a point on each star - this is for hanging the biscuits. Bake for 18-20 minutes until turning pale golden around the edges, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. (If the holes have filled in during baking, re-make them with the skewer while the biscuits are still hot.)
• Put the egg white and lemon juice in a bowl and beat in the icing sugar to make a smooth icing. Using a small palette knife, spread it generously over the biscuits to about 5mm/¼in from the edges.
• Mix the fruits, then scatter them in the middle of the icing with some silver balls. Leave for at least 2 hours to set. Thread with ribbon just before you hang them and eat within 24 hours. They will keep fresh for up to 1 week stored in an airtight tin.

Steps:

• Place egg whites in large bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Line a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan with waxed paper; grease the paper and set aside. , Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon-colored. Gradually beat in 1/3 cup sugar. Sift flour, baking cocoa, baking powder and salt together twice; gradually add to yolk mixture and mix well (batter will be very thick). , With clean beaters, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, on high until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold into batter. Spread evenly into prepared pan. , Bake until cake springs back when lightly touched, 10-12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Turn cake onto a kitchen towel dusted with cocoa powder. Gently peel off waxed paper. Roll up cake in towel, jelly-roll style, starting with a short side; cool completely on a wire rack., Meanwhile, for the filling, beat cream in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and almond extract, beating until stiff peaks form. Unroll cake; spread filling to within 1 in. of edges. Roll up again. , In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in chocolate, milk and vanilla until smooth. Frost the cake, using a metal spatula to create a bark-like effect.

Steps:

• Put all the curd ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5 mins. To check if it's ready, dip a wooden spoon in and blow on it gently. If a wave-like pattern forms, remove from the heat and sieve into a bowl. It will thicken more as it cools. Tip into a sterilised jar and leave to cool completely.
• Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Mix in the egg yolks and the vanilla extract, then add the flour, almonds and a pinch of salt. Work everything into a smooth dough with your hands, then wrap and put in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/ gas 3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 4mm. Press out stars using the larger cutter, then make a hole in the middle of half of the biscuits with the smaller star cutter. Re-roll the excess, making sure you don't overwork the pastry, and stamp out more biscuits. Put the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, and bake for 10 mins until golden. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
• Spread the lemon curd on the biscuits without a hole, and put a biscuit with a hole on top of each one. Dust the biscuits with icing sugar. Will keep in an airtight container for up to three days. Recipe adapted from Let it Snow by Agnes Prus (£7.99, Hardie Grant). Photographs © Frauke Antholz.