These little-known Italian cookies are the kind of hidden-gem recipe I’d like to spend my life discovering in all corners of the world. They have a wonderfully tender dough with a creamy, lemon-scented filling hiding inside. The method looks more complicated than it really is. After you roll out the dough, you cut out circles with two different cutters—a slightly smaller one for the bases and a larger one for the tops that cover the little mounds of custard.
Makes 24 cookies
Difficulty: Hard
Make Ahead and Storage: Both the dough and the custard can be made up to 3 days ahead. Although the cookies are best the day they are made—and are amazing while still slightly warm—they can be stored airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
1. Make the custard: In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, 50 g / ¼ cup of the granulated sugar, and the lemon zest. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the seeds and pod to the pan. Bring the milk to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 49 g / ¼ cup granulated sugar and the cornstarch in a heatproof bowl and whisk to blend. Add the egg yolks and mix well to combine.
3. As soon as the milk begins to bubble, pour it in a slow, steady stream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return the custard mixture to the pan and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until it comes to a first boil (a single large bubble comes up to the surface in the center), 3 to 5 minutes. The custard will be thick, and it will continue to thicken as it cools.
4. Transfer the custard to a heatproof bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the surface of the custard (this will prevent a skin from forming). Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
5. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the semolina flour, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt. Add the butter cubes and toss to coat, then use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the flour until it is well incorporated; some of the butter will combine with the flour, and a few pieces should be roughly the size of peas, but no larger.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, and lemon zest. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in the egg mixture, and use a silicone spatula or your hands to mix until a smooth dough forms. The dough shouldn’t be sticky.
7. Turn the dough out and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Form each into a disk about ½ inch thick, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight. (The colder the dough is, the easier it is to work with, so don’t skimp on chill time.)
8. Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C, with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll one disk of dough out to ¼ inch / 6 mm thick. Use a 3¼-inch round cutter to cut out 12 cookie bases. Transfer 6 of the bases to each of the prepared baking sheets—stagger them, leaving about ½ inch between them.
10. Flour the work surface again. Roll out the second disk of dough to ¼ inch / 6 mm thick. Use a 3½-inch round cutter to cut out 12 cookie tops. Leave the cookie tops on the work surface while you pipe the filling onto the bases.
11. Remove the vanilla pod from the chilled custard and discard it or use for Vanilla Sugar. Transfer the custard to a disposable pastry bag and cut a ½-inch opening in the tip. Pipe 2 tablespoons of the filling onto each base in a rounded mound, leaving about a ⅛-inch border around the edges. Lightly brush the edges of each base with water. Top each base with one of the larger dough rounds, gently pressing the edges together to seal, carefully working around the filling (as if you were making ravioli) and trying to remove any air pockets without squeezing out any of the custard.
12. Use a 3¼-inch scalloped or plain round cutter to cut away the excess dough and help seal the cookie edges. Discard the excess dough.
13. Bake the cookies, rotating the sheets from front to back and top to bottom at the halfway mark, until they are lightly brown at the edges, 17 to 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 15 to 20 minutes. When they are nearly at room temperature but still warm, dust the tops with enough powdered sugar to coat the surface.
✻ Why It Works
Semolina flour adds a subtle texture to the dough while keeping it tender. If the cookies are properly sealed, the custard stays trapped inside, where it softens just a touch, but not enough to ooze or make a mess when you bite into a cookie.
★ Pro Tips
These cookies are a bit of a project, but both the components can be made ahead. I make the custard and dough the day before I plan to make the cookies, and then the shaping and baking doesn’t seem like such a to-do.
When you make the custard, you want to bring it to a boil, but keep the heat low to reduce the chance of scorching and clumps while thickening it properly.