Harlequins

By norsegal8

These simple but delicious cookies, scented with orange and lemon zest, are made elegant by an easy, two-glaze decorative finish I learned at the Richemont Professional School in Lucerne, Switzerland. To achieve a sweet and sour flavor, brush half of each cookie with apricot jam and the other half with red currant jelly before painting a soft, shimmery sugar glaze all over it.

Ingredients

• DOUGH
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup unsifted powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• JELLY GLAZE
• 2/3 cup strained apricot jam
• 2/3 cup red currant jelly
• SUGAR GLAZE
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons water
• additional powdered sugar

Preparation

Step 1

1. Dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter at medium-low speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in the sugars and salt at medium speed until creamy. Add the egg yolk, then the citrus zests and vanilla, mixing just until the mixture is well combined and slightly fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Lower the mixer speed and gradually add the flour, mixing only until the mixture is thoroughly combined.

2. Divide the dough in thirds, and roll each portion of dough between two sheets of waxed paper to form a circle 10 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Leaving the dough circles on the waxed paper, stack them on a cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days; or freeze, well-wrapped, for up to one month.

3. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Remove one dough package at a time from the refrigerator. Peel off the top waxed paper sheet, replace it loosely on top, and flip the entire package over. Peel off and discard the second sheet of waxed paper.

5. Using a 1 ½-inch cookie cutter of any shape, cut out shapes of the dough and set them about ½ inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are no longer shiny, just ivory-colored and feel slightly firm (lightly touch a few). Place the baking sheets on wire racks until cool.

6. Jelly Glaze: Keep the oven rack in the same position; preheat the oven to 140°F. Place the apricot jam and currant jelly in two small saucepans. Simmer on low heat for 2 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid before decorating cookies. Cool just until warm.

7. Brush the warm apricot jam over half of each cookie. With a clean brush, brush the currant jelly on the other half of the cookies, setting them on a clean baking sheet about ¼ inch apart.

8. Sugar glaze: Mix the sugar and water together until smooth. With a clean pastry brush, brush a thin coating of glaze over the jelly-glazed cookies. The glazes consistency should be thin enough that a transparent film covers the jellies. Adjust the consistency by adding 1 teaspoon of water at a time if it is too thick or sugar if it is too thin. Place the cookies in the preheated oven until the glaze is set and dry, about 10 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then lift them with a spatula to the rack to finish cooling.

9. Store the decorated cookies in a single layer in an airtight container. Undecorated cookies can be stacked and stored for up to 10 days.