Don't let those leftover egg yolks from other recipes go to waste! Make these delicious lemon cookies and eat them instead, trust me on this one.
Every time I make French macarons, I'm left with a bowl of egg yolks I feel I should bake with rather than throw out. Rich custards or cream cake and pie fillings come to mind first but then I'd have to make a pie and eat that haha! Pinterest came to my rescue and I found this recipe over at food.com which solved my egg yolk surplus problem very nicely. I've added a few extra elements to include my own touch to them and in my next batch I have a few extra things I'm going to try as well to make them even more incredible than they already are.
If you are a fan of crisp cookies....these aren't for you. These cookies came out just how I like them; just firm enough on the edges to give a hint of crunch and the rest are soft and melt in your mouth. There's just enough of lemon and citrus flavor to cut through the richness of the egg yolk and butter and make them a real spring time treat.
Egg Yolk Lemon Cookies
makes about 32 cookies
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
6 egg yolks
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, set aside in a bowl (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
In a large mixing bowl or using a stand mixer, cream together the butter and 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar until it is light and fluffy. This might take a few minutes. Add the egg yolks and beat until fully combined. Add the zest and extracts to the mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
Next, add the remaining dry ingredients to the bowl with exception to the 3 tablespoons of sugar. Mix these in until combined, you don't want to over mix a cookie.
After you cookie dough is ready, use a cookie scoop or spoon (my scoop is a 1.5 tablespoon size) to scoop out balls of dough and roll each one in the sugar that was set aside. Place each ball on a cookie sheet leaving a few inches between each one because they will spread. You can choose to use parchment paper on your sheets, my aluminum baking sheets were fine how they were. I fit 8 cookies per sheet.
Bake each sheet for 10-12 minutes or until the edges just start to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the sheets before moving them to a cooling rack. The heat from the sheet will continue to bake the cookie as they rest.
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