These crisp little wafers go with ice creams and fruit desserts, and are wonderful to have on hand when you want a molded magnificence, since you can use them rather than ladyfingers. They freeze perfectly, too, so you might make a lot while you’re at it.
For about 30 cookies, 4 inches long and 1¼ to 1½ inches wide
½ stick (2 ounces) soft unsalted butter
⅓ cup sugar
The grated rind of 1 lemon
¼ cup egg whites (about 2 “large” egg whites)
⅓ cup all-purpose flour (measure by scooping dry-measure cup into flour and sweeping off excess)
Equipment. 2 or more buttered and floured cookie sheets, the largest you have, and no-stick recommended; a 12- to 14-inch pastry bag with ⅜ -inch round tube opening; a flour sifter set over wax paper; an electric beater or wooden spoon; a rubber spatula and a flexible-blade spatula; a cake rack.
Preliminaries. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and set racks in upper- and lower-middle levels. Prepare pastry sheets, assemble pastry bag, and set out all your ingredients and equipment.
The batter. The mixture here is only butter and sugar beaten to a pommade (a light and fluffy consistency), then mixed with plain egg white, and finally with flour; the trick is to keep it light and fluffy so it has enough body to hold in a pastry bag and be squeezed out. Proceed as follows: Using an electric beater or a wooden spoon, whip the butter, sugar, and grated lemon rind in a small bowl until they form a fluffy pommade—if you have softened it too much and it has turned limp and almost liquid, beat over ice water to bring it back to a fluffy, almost foamy, state. Beat the egg whites briefly with a fork, just to break them up. Pour ½ tablespoon of them into the butter-sugar mixture and rapidly cut it in with a rubber spatula, giving 3 or 4 brief scoops. Do not try to mix thoroughly because you do not want to soften the batter; rapidly cut in the rest of the egg whites by ½ tablespoons. Then sift on one quarter of the flour, rapidly cut it into the mixture, and continue with the rest in small portions. Stand the pastry bag in a cup, spread the top open, and scoop in the batter.
Forming the cookies. Using quick straight strokes, form lines of the batter on the prepared cookie sheets, making lines 3 to 4 inches long and the width of your finger, spaced 3 inches apart—they will spread in the oven.
Baking. Bake 2 sheets at a time in upper- and lower-middle levels of pre-heated 425-degree oven. In 6 to 8 minutes, when ⅛ inch around their circumference has browned, the cookies are done. Remove from oven and immediately, with a flexible-blade spatula, dislodge cookies onto a rack. They will crisp as they cool.
*Store in a warming oven, or wrap airtight and freeze.