INGREDIENTS
For the cookie dough:
-300 gr. (2 1/3 cups) All-purpose flour
-130 gr.( 2/3 cups) granulated white sugar
-110 gr. (1/2 cups) butter, room temperature
-2 egg yolks
-The zest of a lemon
For the royal icing and decorations:
-2 large (60 grams) egg whites
-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
-330 gr. (3 cups) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
-Yellow food coloring
-50 gr. (1.7 ounces) dark chocolate
STEP 1: Cookie dough
You can use a regular shortbread cookie recipe here (or a simple sugar cookie recipe), of your choice, but my recipe is a little bit different. I use lemon zest instead of vanilla extract, this way the cookies get a great lemon-y flavor that matches the icing wonderfully.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). No, wait. First things first. Bring your ipod to the kitchen and play “Smile” album reaaaally loud. Ok, that’s better :D Let’s go.
In a bowl, beat the butter and the sugar together until soft and creamy. You need "softened" butter, or room temperature butter, because… well, it's very hard to beat a cold stick of butter :D Make sure your butter it’s been out of the fridge for about an hour before you have to use it.
In a bowl, beat the butter and the sugar together until soft and creamy. You need "softened" butter, or room temperature butter, because… well, it's very hard to beat a cold stick of butter :D Make sure your butter it’s been out of the fridge for about an hour before you have to use it.
Add the egg yolks (just the yolks! Put the whites aside in the fridge, we will use them later), one at a time, and the lemon zest and juice. You can use artificial lemon extract instead of the zest, it will make them lemon-y, of course, but the flavor isn't quite as bright as fresh lemon zest.
Gently add the flour mixture (better if sifted), little by little, just until incorporated, then use your hands to work the dough and shape it into a firm ball. The dough has to be compact but slightly greasy to the touch.
Put the dough ball in a bowl, cover it and let it set for 15-20 minutes.
Ok, the dough is ready to use. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 6 mm. (1/4 inch) thick square. Cut it into little squares either with a knike or using a cookie cutter. If you are looking for perfectly squared cookies, all the same size, it’s better if you use a cutter. My cookies are about 6x6 cm (2.4x2.4 inches)
Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, 180ºC (350ºF) until veeeeery lightly browned, or not browned at all. Let the cookies cool completely before starting with the royal icing.
STEP 2: Flooding the cookies with royal icing
Ok, let’s start with the icing. For those who don’t know what the heck is royal icing, it is a white icing that dries to a smooth, hard, matte finish. The most common recipe uses powdered sugar (or icing sugar, even better), lemon juice, and raw egg whites.
In a bowl, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until combined and foamy. Slowly add sifted powdered sugar (very important! Powdered sugar usually has lumps) and beat on low speed until combined and smooth.
When making royal icing it is important that it is of the proper consistency. If your icing isn’t at the correct consistency or thickness, the results may not look very good. The trick I use with royal icing is called the “10 second rule“. Drag a butter knife through the surface of your royal icing and count to 10. If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then your icing is ready to use! If yours is too thick, add water. If it’s too liquid, add powdered sugar :D
At this point, add the yellow food coloring to the icing until you get the desired shade of yellow.
Put the royal icing on a piping bag or simple plastic bag with a tiny hole in one corner (that's what I used, although a proper piping bag with a proper piping tip is much better XD). You might want to practice piping on a parchment paper before you begin, to see how it goes. Also, decorate your least favorite cookies first, that way if you make a mistake it won’t matter as much! :)First, draw the outline of the square. This creates a border or “dam” to make sure the icing does not flow over the edges. Quickly fill it before the outline dries, try to blend the outline and the filling together until the outline dissapears. Most people let the outline dry, but that way you will have a very visible line in your cookie. Me, I like a smooth and even surface, as you can see in the pictures.
Use a toothpick to pop air bubbles and correct bumps and imperfections. Shake the cookie gently to help the surface to settle.
Let the royal icing dry for at least 2 hours, until the surface is hard enough to start with the chocolate decorations.
STEP 3: Decorating with chocolate
Place 50 grams (1.7 ounces) of the finely chopped dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat and put it on a pipping bag with a round tip (or the usual plastic bag :D). We need to draw a line about 3 mm. (1/8 inches) thick. Print the “Smile” face and keep the paper nearby in case you might need a guide to draw the face on the cookies. Play “Ready steady go” on your audio player because you are about to draw a lot of faces in a lot of cookies and you will need all the energy you can get! XD
Let the chocolate dry. And that’s it! Your Laruku friends will be delighted with these cookies, and your non-Laruku friends will be equally happy because the smilies are cute anyway XD I hope you liked it!
If you want to leave a comment, leave it in the comment section below the Spanish version of the recipe ;)
