In the Kitchen
Spiced Egg Yolk Cookies
When you are baking and cooking with recipes that leave you with extra egg yolks, these cookies come to the rescue. By using up six yolks, they help ensure that nothing goes to waste, whether you are making meringues or simply enjoy eating egg whites for breakfast.
These cookies are tender inside with a slightly crunchy outside, and they’re loaded with seasonal spices and a hit of orange liqueur. (If you’d rather not use the liqueur, simply substitute all fresh orange juice.)
Plan ahead because the dough does need to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator before you roll and bake the cookies.
YIELD: 30 to 32 cookies
INGREDIENTS
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ cups sugar
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as Cointreau
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• ½ teaspoon fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup turbinado or raw sugar, for rolling
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. To the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium for 30 seconds until the ingredients start to come together. Then turn to medium-high and mix for a full 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl a couple times. The butter and sugar should be fully creamed, almost like a thick whipped cream and pale yellow in color.
Mix in the egg yolks just until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Then mix in the orange liqueur
(if using), orange zest and orange juice. Next mix in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves until the spices are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
With the mixer on medium-low, add the flour a little at a time. Turn the mixer to medium and mix just until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Use a rubber spatula to stir in any flour that may not be fully mixed in. Place the bowl with the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Put the raw sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll the dough into walnut-size balls, then roll them in the sugar to coat each ball completely.
Arrange on a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. The cookies will spread, so if you prefer perfectly round cookies without the chance of edges reaching each other, bake 9 cookies at a time on a standard cookie sheet versus 12.
Bake for 12 minutes, until the edges are very slightly browned and the cookies puff a bit. They will flatten and settle as they cool. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days for the best quality.
Lori Rice is a writer, photographer and nutritional scientist. Find her at www.loririce.com or www.fakefoodfree.com.