Lemon Star Bursting 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:

• 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.

Steps:

• Sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl, beat 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar with butter using an electric mixer until the mixture is creamy and free of lumps. Beat in the lemon extract, then mix in the flour mixture to make a smooth dough. Chill the dough for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Mix 1 cup of confectioners' sugar with the lemonade drink mix in a plastic zipper bag. Close the zipper, and shake the bag to blend.
• Scoop up about 1 1/2 teaspoon of dough per cookie, and roll into balls. Place the cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are set, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on sheets for 2 minutes.
• Drop the warm cookies into the bag of lemon sugar, about 5 or 6 at a time, and shake to coat with the mixture. Shake off excess sugar, and allow the cookies to finish cooling on wire racks. When cool, shake them in the lemon sugar one more time.

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.