Citrus Ornament Cookies Food

CITRUS SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add sugar, eggs, and lemon zest and process until mixture resembles wet sand.
• Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface; knead several times until dough comes together. Divide into 3 portions; flatten each into a disk. Roll each disk to an 1/8-inch thickness between sheets of parchment. Stack dough (still in parchment) on a baking sheet; refrigerate 20 minutes. (To store, wrap in plastic and freeze on sheet, up to 2 weeks. Thaw until pliable before using.)
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with racks in middle and lower thirds. Working with 1 dough sheet at a time, peel off parchment (save for baking). With lightly floured cutters, cut dough into desired shapes and arrange, 1 inch apart, on 2 parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets (reroll scraps, if desired). Sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
• Bake until cookies are set but still pale, 7 to 9 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely. Using a spoon, frost cookies with icing; decorate with sugar, if desired.

CITRUS CRINKLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
• Combine the butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes.
• Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, citrus zest, citrus juice and food coloring and beat until incorporated. Decrease the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl and the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in another small bowl. Scoop tablespoons of the chilled dough and roll into balls. Toss each ball in the granulated sugar first, then in the confectioners' sugar, coating them very generously and thoroughly. Arrange the balls about 1 inch apart on 2 baking sheets (you should have 24 balls). Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Position the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Bake until the cookies spread, the tops crack and the edges are firm, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

CITRUS ORNAMENT COOKIES

Steps:

• Candied Citrus Zest: Remove zest from lemons and oranges with a vegetable peeler in long strips. With a paring knife, remove white pith from zest strips. With a very sharp knife, cut strips into a long, fine julienne. Place julienned zest in a small bowl; cover with boiling water. Let stand 30 minutes; drain.
• Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high. When sugar is completely dissolved, add julienned zest, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand overnight. Candied zest in syrup can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks. (Makes 3/4 cup.)
• Glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and citrus juice until smooth. Whisk in zest. Glaze can be stored at room temperature, with plastic wrap pressed directly on surface, up to 3 days; whisk before using. (Makes 2 cups.)
• Cookies: Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Beat butter with sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add citrus zest; beat to combine. Add eggs and citrus juice; beat to combine. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, beating until just combined.
• Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 3 disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 2 days (or freeze up to 1 month).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough about 1/8 inch thick. Use a 3-inch ornament cutter to cut out shapes; transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets. Reroll and cut remaining dough. Freeze 15 minutes. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.
• Remove candied citrus zest from syrup; let drain on paper towels. Stir in a tiny amount of food coloring into glaze to achieve a very pale tint. Brush tops of cookies with glaze, then turn glaze-sides up on racks set over rimmed baking sheets to catch drips. Let stand 5 minutes before pressing zest strips into glaze. Let stand until completely set, about 1 hour. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container between sheets of parchment at room temperature up to 4 days.

ORANGE CARDAMOM COOKIES

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Whisk together flour, zest, cardamom, and salt.
• Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in yolk and cream. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches just until a dough forms. Quarter dough and form each piece into a 6-inch disk, then chill, wrapped separately in plastic wrap, until firm, 2 to 3 hours.
• Cut and bake cookies:
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
• Roll out 1 piece of dough between sheets of parchment paper into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Slide dough in parchment onto a tray and chill until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Cut out as many cookies as possible with cookie cutter (chill dough again if necessary), reserving and chilling scraps. Transfer cookies to a parchment-lined large baking sheet, arranging them 1 inch apart.
• Bake until edges are golden-brown, 9 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then slide cookies, still on parchment, onto a rack to cool completely.
• Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll only once) on cooled freshly lined baking sheets.
• If icing cookies and coloring icing, transfer small batches to small bowls, 1 for each color, and tint with food coloring. Spoon each color of icing into separate sealable bags, pressing out excess air, and snip an 1/8-inch opening in 1 bottom corner of each bag. Pipe icing onto a plate to test consistency. If too thick, thin a small batch with a few drops of orange juice.
• Decoratively pipe icing onto cookies, then sprinkle with decorative sugar (if using) and let dry completely, about 1 hour (depending on humidity).

CANDIED ORANGE ZEST FOR CRANBERRY TRIFLE

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add zest of 1 orange (peeled into long strips with a vegetable peeler); simmer, swirling occasionally, until zest is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a plate. Dredge zest in sugar, and thinly slice.

LEMON SUGAR

Steps:

• Using a citrus zester, remove the zest. (Alternatively, using a paring knife or a vegetable peeler, remove the zest; then scrape as much of the bitter white pith off it as possible.) Roughly chop zest; transfer to a food processor, and add 1 cup sugar. Pulse until zest has been finely ground, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the ground mixture to a medium bowl. Add remaining cup sugar, and toss until evenly mixed.
• Spread the lemon sugar on a baking pan, and let sit at room temperature until dry, about 1 hour.

CANDIED CITRUS SLICES

Steps:

• Cut a round of parchment paper to fit just inside a medium pot; set aside. Bring sugar and 3 cups water to a simmer in pot, stirring until sugar has dissolved. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add citrus slices, arranging them in a slightly overlapping layer. Cover with the parchment paper round. Place a cake pan on top of parchment to keep slices submerged. Simmer (do not boil) until rinds are almost translucent, about 40 minutes. Let cool completely in syrup. Candied citrus slices can be stored in syrup up to 1 week.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set a wire rack over sheet. Transfer candied citrus to rack. Let stand until dry and slightly firm, about 8 hours.