More crumbs, more crumbs, I always think whenever I eat a crumb-topped cake, pie, or crisp. These cookies, made from a lemon-flavored crumb topping mixture, are nothing but crumbs. As they bake, the butter in the crumb mixture melts and the crumbs become crisp cookies that have as many crumbs as anyone could want, even me. Orange zest is another option for flavoring them.
makes 18 cookies • cookie making 15 minutes • cookie baking 325 degrees, two baking sheets for about 21 minutes each
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Powdered sugar for dusting
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Trace nine 3½-inch circles on each of two pieces of parchment paper the size of your baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between the circles. Line the baking sheets with the paper, marked side down.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, sugar, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the flour and mix until the dough forms small crumbs, varying in size from fine crumbs to about ¼ inch in size.
Use a ¼-cup measuring cup to scoop up ¼ cup crumbs, and spread them in one of the marked circles. Pat the crumbs gently to fill the circle, but do not pack them tightly. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of loose crumbs over the top, to produce the crumbly looking top. Repeat to make a total of 18 cookies.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the bottoms and edges are light brown, about 21 minutes. The centers of the cookies should still be a lighter pale golden color. Cool the cookies for 10 minutes on the baking sheets, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely (some crumbs may fall off the edges). Do not try to transfer the cookies before 10 minutes—they must cool and firm slightly so they will not break.
Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar. The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days.