cookie tale of woe and baby G's accoutrements

These are some lemon sandwich cookies I made yesterday, from an Everyday Food recipe. They have a hint of lemon in the cookie part, and a lemony cream cheese filling (which I would add a bit of lemon juice to, for more lemon-y ness.) The recipe is in the latest issue, so it isn't on the website yet, but I'll share it because it's so yummy. But not before I share the tale of woe which accompanied the making of said cookies.

I have (ahem, had) a great stand mixer which was given to us as a wedding gift. (Nope, not the divine Kitchen Aid stand mixer of my dreams, but a lovely mixer which hummed along merrily and did its job very well.) I was talking to mother-in-law as I was mixing the filling for the cookies, adding the icing sugar to the cream cheese (I'm not blaming MIL, just setting the scene). I took my hand off of the spatula I was using to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl in order to turn the mixer off, and in the 1/4 second interim, the spatula got sucked in between the mixing beaters, which promptly halted all mixer movement. The spatula (a silicone one from the dollar store) fared magnificently, and looks no worse for the wear after careful extraction by MIL and me. I bent the blades on the beaters back into place, so they ended up looking okay, but when I went to try the mixer (how much damage could have been done in that 1/4 of a second? I thought) it made not the merry humming of its former life, but a very sad and irritating high pitched grinding kind of squeal. Sigh. I don't have a little hand mixer, either, since I used the one we had to mix (carcinogenic) grout last summer for the tiles under our wood stove and threw it away afterward. People have mixed with spoons for ages, so I guess I can manage. But blast, I'm just annoyed that my inattention destroyed the mixer. Blast. Okay, enough lamenting... on to the recipe!


Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Makes 3 dozen
Total time: 2h15

½ cup butter, room temperature
1 c icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
½ tsp salt
2 c flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar, for sprinkling
Creamy lemon filling (recipe below)

1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat
butter, icing sugar, lemon zest and salt until combined. With mixer on
low, add flour (dough will be stiff); finish mixing with wooden spoon.

2. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper; pat into a
disk about ½ inch thick. Wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour (and
up to 3 days).

3. Preheat oven to 350. Unwrap dough, place on a lightly floured piece of parchment or wax
paper. With lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough about 1/8 inch
thick (if dough cracks, let it warm up slightly.)

4. Cut out cookies with 1 ½ inch round cutter. Place 1 inch apart on
two baking sheets and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until barely beginning
to brown, 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

5. Form sandwiches. Place about 1 tsp creamy lemon filling between two
cookies, sugar side out. Squeeze gently.


Creamy Lemon Filling

4 oz bar cream cheese, room temperature (1/2 block)
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
1 to 1 ½ c icing sugar
(I would add a little bit of lemon juice next time)

In small bowl, mix cream cheese and zest until smooth. Gradually add 1
c icing sugar, mixing until smooth. Mix in remaining sugar as
necessary to create a firm but spreadable filling.
I found this teeny tiny bathrobe at Frenchy's a few weeks ago! TOO cute for wrapping little one up after bath time.
I found this little hat (if we don't have a girl, it's going to someone who does) today at Frenchy's.
And here is the most recent addition to baby G's room! MIL brought the dresser and change top with her when she came for the weekend. We found an extra cover for the change top at Frenchy's this afternoon, too, so that was very cool. Along with some other baby goodies! Thanks, Nanny! And the picture of the sunflower on the wall is one of Adam's, and one of my favourites.