Lemon Cookie Ornaments

These crispy citrus-flavored cookies come from the genre known as “refrigerator cookies.” The dough is chilled as a log and then baked as rounds, which makes it easy for mass production.

Yield: 3 dozen

Active time: 20 minutes

Start to finish: 11/2 hours, including 1 hour to chill dough

11/2 cups white rice flour

11/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2/3 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup tapioca starch

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, thinly sliced

1 large egg

1 tablespoon whole milk

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon lemon oil

Gluten-free sugar sprinkles and candies (optional)

1. Combine rice flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch, tapioca starch, cream of tartar, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Blend for 5 seconds. Add butter to the work bowl, and process, using on-and-off pulsing, until mixture resembles coarse meal.

2. Combine egg, milk, lemon zest, and lemon oil in a small cup, and whisk well. Drizzle liquid into the work bowl, and pulse about 10 times, or until stiff dough forms. If dough is dry and doesn’t come together add additional milk by 1-teaspoon amounts, until dough forms a ball.

3. Place dough on a sheet of waxed paper, and form it into a log 21/2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate dough covered in plastic wrap for 1 hour or until firm, or up to 2 days.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.

5. Cut chilled dough into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp serrated knife, and arrange them on the baking sheets. Decorate cookies with sugar crystals, if using.

6. Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until edges are brown. Cool cookies for 2 minutes on the baking sheets, and then transfer them with a spatula to cooling racks to cool completely.

Variation

Images Substitute lime oil and lime zest for the lemon oil and lemon zest.

You can actually hang these cookies on a small tree. Before baking them, create a small hole at the top with the tip of a paring knife, and make sure the holes have not closed up when the cookies come out of the oven. Loop ribbon through the hole after the cookies cool.