PISTACHIO LEMON COOKIES

These lemon-scented sugar cookies are a variation of the cookies Jen Leifheit-little learned to bake with her mom. With a large proportion of cornstarch in the dough, they make very tender cookies.

The dough is delicate and a bit sticky, so take care when rolling, or add a bit more flour to make a less sticky dough. These cookies also puff up quite a bit when baking, so leave plenty of room between them on the baking sheet.

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional

for rolling

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated

sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 egg yolks, room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

6 teaspoons lemon juice

Water, if needed

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped salted,

toasted pistachios

1/4 cup coarsely chopped dried cranberries (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and lemon zest and beat 1 minute at low speed. Add butter and increase to medium speed. Beat until batter is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks and vanilla and mix 30 seconds or until yolks are incorporated into butter. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture. When mixture forms a ball, stop machine and remove dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out 1/8-inch thick on a lightly floured work surface. Use a 2 ½-inch cookie cutter to cut rounds. If you wish to make wreath-shaped cookies, use a smaller cutter to cut out the center of each cookie. Arrange cookies on baking sheet with plenty of space between. If baking the cookie centers, put them on a separate baking sheet as they will bake faster. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes or until they’ve just begin to turn golden brown at the edges. Centers will take about 7 minutes. Remove from oven, cool 2 minutes on baking sheet and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

While cookies are cooling, make glaze: In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar and lemon juice until mixture is smooth. Add water if needed to make a consistency like heavy cream. Move the glaze to a flatbottomed bowl.

When cookies are cool, dip cookies upside down into the glaze, then return glaze-side-up to baking rack. Sprinkle immediately with chopped pistachios. Adding cranberries creates a festive holiday look. Let sit on racks until glaze hardens.

Makes 30 cookies.

Per cookie: 126 calories (percent of calories from fat, 43), 2 grams protein, 16 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 6 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), 20 milligrams cholesterol, 72 milligrams sodium.

— All recipes adapted from ones provided by Jen Leifheit-little of A Little Baked Bakery.

COURTESY OF A LITTLE BAKED BAKERY Pistachio Lemon Cookies are very tender.