Lemon Pinenut Stars

By banspach

Ingredients

• glaze:
• 3 1/4 c flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter at rm temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yok
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tbs milk
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pine nuts
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbs butter, soft to rm. temp
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• yellow decorating sugar
• 3 inch star cookie cutter

Details

Servings 30
Preparation time 45mins
Cooking time 60mins

Preparation

Step 1

in a med bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.

in a larg bowl, combine the butter and sugar. use an electric mixer to beat on medium-high speed, scaping the bowl as needed, until pale and fluffy, about five minutes.

Add the egg, egg yolk, lemon extract and milk and mix on medium speed until fluffy and incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients 1/4 at a time, mixing until fluffy incorporated. Add pinenuts and mix until incoporated.

Divide dough in half. Place each half between 2 sheets of waxed or parchmennt paper. Roll out each dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Refrigerate the dough discs (it's fine to stack them) until cold and slightly firm, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or coat them with cooking spray.

Remove 1 dough from the refrigerator and lift off the top sheet of parchment paper. Use the cookie cutter to cut out cookies, gathering and rerolling scraps as needed to use up all the dough.

Carefully transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space between each cookie. If the cookies are too soft to move, place them in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Bake the cookies rotating the sheets front to back and top to bottom half way through, until golden brown on the sides, about 12- 15 minutes.

While the cookies bake, make the glaze, in a medium bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream and lemon zest and juice. Use an electric mixer to beat until just blended. When the cookies come out of the oven, use a spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack. Let cool five minutes then spread with glaze and immediately sprinkle with sugar. Set aside to cool. Repeat process with remaining dough.