Lemon Stars Recipes

LEMON STARS

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.

LEMON BARS

Steps:

• For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter and line with foil.
• Cut together the butter, flour, granulated sugar and salt. Press into the prepared pan and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.
• For the filling: Whisk together the granulated sugar, flour and eggs until smooth. Add the lemon zest and juice and mix until combined. Pour over the crust and bake until just set, about 20 minutes.
• Allow to cool in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, then sift powdered sugar over the top before cutting into squares.

THE BEST LEMON BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
• Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.

LEMON STAR BURSTING COOKIES

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.

LEMON STARS

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.

LEMON STARS

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients into a smooth batter. Pour the batter into a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle. Squirt the batter in small piles over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (fan: 160°C, gas mark 2-3) (approximately 350°F) for about 12 minutes until light golden.

LEMON STARS

Steps:

• Rinse lemon in hot water, wipe dry and finely grate zest. Beat together flour, butter, sour cream, half the lemon zest and 1 pinch of salt with a hand mixer until smooth.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Divide dough into 3 portions and roll out each on a floured work surface to approximately 1/4 inch thick.
• Cut dough into star shapes. Knead together dough scraps, roll out again and cut into more stars.
• Place stars on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake in the oven at 350°F until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a cooling rack.
• Heat quince jelly in a small pot, stirring until smooth.
• Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jelly on half of the stars, in the centers.
• Top with remaining stars and let set.
• Squeeze juice from lemon. Mix together 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice, powdered sugar and remaining lemon zest in a small bowl. Spoon icing on top of cookies and let set before serving.

LEMON STARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone paper.
• Mix flour, cornstarch, baking power, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix yolks, cream, and lemon oil together in a measuring cup.
• Cream sugar with butter, lemon rind and shortening until lightened and pasty. Beat yolk mixture into creamed butter until just combined.
• Add dry ingredients and beat until mixture begins to clump together (about 18-20 seconds on lowest speed of electric mixer.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently to shape into a soft dough. (Can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen up to 6 months.
• Working with 1/4th of dough at a time, roll to about 1/8-inch thick on a well-floured work surface. Use a star cookie cutter to cut out shapes (or use any cookie cutter of choice). Using a spatula, transfer cut-outs to prepared baking sheet, placing them about 1-inch apart. Using a tiny hor d'oeuvre cutter cut a star out of the middle of one sheet of the cookies (or use any shape of choice.) The cut-out cookies will color faster than the others so it is best to have all of them on a separate baking sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden, 10-12 minutes.l Repeat with remaining dough.
• Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. When they are completely cool, put a little lemon curd on the cookies that will be the bottom cookies. Top with a cut-out cookie offsetting it. Serve.