Photo by Frauke Antholz
Makes about 25
Ingredients:
For the Lemon Curd:
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 90 g (3 oz/scant/ 1/2 cup) Raw Cane Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 60 g (2 oz) Soft butter, diced
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric, to taste
For the Dough:
- 120 g (4 oz) Butter
- 120 g (4 oz/generous 1/2 cup) Raw cane sugar
- 3 Egg yolks
- 1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
- 150 g (5 oz/1-1/4 cups) Plain (all-purpose) flour + a little extra
- 150 g (5 oz/1-1/2 cups) blanched ground almonds
- PINCH OF SALT
For Decorating:
- Icing (confectioner’s) sugar
Extra Equipment:
- Star-shaped cookie cutter
Directions:
- For the lemon curd, put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and mix well. Warm up on a low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. To check whether the curd is ready, dip a wooden spoon in and blow. If a wave-like pattern forms that is reminiscent of a rose, remove the pan from the stove. Whilst the curd is cooling it will further thicken, taking on a spreadable consistency. Fill into a sterilised jar and allow to cool.
- For the dough, cream the butter and sugar together. Blend in the egg yolks and the vanilla extract, then add the flour, almonds and salt. Work everything into a smooth dough, wrap in cling film (plastic wrap) and allow to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC (340ºF/gas 3). Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a thickness of about 4 mm (. in) and press out stars, then make a hole in the middle of half of the biscuits (cookies). Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for about 10 minutes until golden. Take out of the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Spread lemon curd on the biscuits without a hole, and place a biscuit with a hole on each of them. Dust with icing sugar and store in a tin.
More from Let it Snow:
Recipes excerpted with permission from Let it Snow by Agnes Prus, published by Hardie Grant Books October 2019, RRP $11.99 hardcover.
YOU BE SWEET
You know how those Southern dessert recipes go—a cup of sugar here, a stick of butter there, eight squares of bakĀing chocolate, or a pint of the season’s juiciest fruit. That recipe for blueberry cream pie—it’s been passed around the church for so long nobody can quite remember who made it first. Or how about the one for red velvet cheesecake you’ve been trying to coax out of your sister-in-law for years? She serves it every Christmas Eve, but so far her lips are sealed.
These are the types of food traditions that inspire You Be Sweet—a celebration of Southern dessert recipes and the people who cherish them. In this compilation of stories and sweet treats, Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson peek in on those occasions special enough to demand something decadent, and memorable enough to be repeated time and again. You’ll find the strawberry jam bars that always make an appearance at the neighborhood picnic. The German chocolate cake roll that pulls in the big bucks at the charity bake sale? That’s here too. The blackberry jelly recipe that has graced Mason jars all over the South for decades? It’s here, and it’s just about the best hostess gift you can offer up. Be sweet? You won’t be able to help it!
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