Lemon Cookies

Some would argue for the pastel shells of Easter eggs, the rainbow jumble of jelly beans, even the cardinal and cream of clerical vestments, but the official color of spring is yellow. Yellow are the heads jonquils raise as the garden blooms and yellow is the sunshine they awaken to. Yellow is honey and yellow are the stripes bees wear as they express it. Yellow is the butter of Easter bread, chiffon cakes, baklava, and if you're lucky, yellow is the frosting on a springtime layer cake.

And yellow is . . . lemons. I've written before about the link between lemons and springtime. You can read that here, but you have only to consider a lemon to appreciate the connection. Lemons are as crucial to Greek cooking as springtime's cornerstone holiday, Easter, is to the Greek church. Lemons are central to California cooking, if for no other reason than they can grow there. These flowering trees of the rue family are thought to have originated in Asia, but are recorded in California as early as the 1700s. Many of the same conditions that please grapes enliven lemons, and in both the orchard and on the patio, lemon growers are every bit as passionate about their charges as are viniculturists. In subtropical California -- not to be confused with mountainous, desert or coastal California -- every residential street is an orangerie. Any Los Angelino will tell you that spring smells like citrus blossoms.

Because southern California provides the ideal conditions for citrus trees to thrive, it forms the western edge of a band known delightfully, and tartly, as the Commercial Citrus Belt. Unlike the worrisome Bible Belt or vexing snow belt, the citrus belt proceeds along Arizona, across Texas, along the Gulf Coast and into Florida, with a break in New Mexico where the altitude isn't conducive. Although Florida and Texas are both strong citrus-producing states, California leads the nation in lemons. And we're not just talking crappy movies.

California leads the nation in producing lemons, but grandma's kitchen leads the efforts to put them to good use. Springtime isn't complete without a lemon pound cake for snacking, a smear of lemon jelly on the breakfast toast, a drizzle of lemon oil on a lunchtime grill of fish and vegetables, and of course anointing our salad. If grandma is Greek, lemon is stirred into the thick avgolimono of the Sunday Supper, as well as served grilled with sprigs of mint alongside the Easter lamb. And if grandma isn't a teetotaler, lemon enlivens both a bottle of vodka she's been infusing since the new year and the dainty tray of apertifs she sets out as the sun sets on Easter Sunday.

And at least once this spring, ovens from grandma's kitchen to our own urban home will come forth with trays of delicate and fragrant lemon cookies. French sables aux citrons display that distinct sandy characteristic by which their success is gauged, while good ole American lemon snaps display as much character as their gingered cousins. Lemon curd makes a tart, gushy topping for classic lemon bars, while lemon wafers crackle with bits of crushed lemon drops.

In our urban kitchen, the lemon cookie of choice is the meltaway. These light butter cookies provide the perfect context for an intense experience of lemon juice, lemon oil and lemon zest. Some meltaways are tossed in powdered sugar while still warm, but for these, logs of the dough are rolled in sanding sugar and zest before being chilled, sliced and baked. The results are lemony disks that are as sweet and sunny as springtime itself.

LEMON MELTAWAYS

Lemon oil is an important item for the baking pantry -- you can obtain a good one here. Sanding sugar is available in any baking store and in the baking aisle of most supermarkets. In our urban kitchen, we use air-insulated cookie sheets, and a simple wire baking rack.

2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for the pans

2 lemons, preferably organic, for the zest as well as 1 tablespoon juice

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon lemon oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons yellow sanding sugar

1. Fill a bowl large enough to hold the lemons halfway with water. Add a few drops commercial vegetable cleaner. Add the lemons to the cleaning water; swirl the lemons in the water. Remove the lemons from the water and rinse them. Place the lemons on a clean layer of paper towels to dry.

2. Place the butter, unwrapped, into a large bowl. Set aside to soften.

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a layer of paper towels on a table or countertop and set up a baking rack over the paper towels.

4.Line four cookie sheets with Silpat baking mats or a single layer of parchment paper. If using parchment, butter the paper.

5. Pull two more sheets of parchment paper and lay these on the working surface. They may try to curl up; if so flip them so that they lie flat.
6. Measure the flour and salt together in a small bowl; stir to combine.

7. Use a zester to zest the dried lemons over a small bowl. Try to remove just the yellow skin (the "zest") from the lemons, avoiding the white pith beneath.
8. Add one half of the zest to the bowl containing the softened butter. Add the sanding sugar to the bowl containing the remaining half of the lemon zest; stir the sugar and the zest together.

9. Slice one of the zested lemons in half and use either a hand-held press to juice the lemon halves. Juice over a bowl or cup and through a sieve to catch any pith or seeds.

10. Add the granulated sugar to the bowl containing the softened butter and the first half of the lemon zest. Use a hand mixer set to medium to combine the mixture until it is light and creamy.

11. Add the egg, one tablespoon of lemon juice, and the lemon oil to the butter mixture, using the hand mixer set to medium to incorporate the mixture into a batter that is light and creamy.

12. With the mixer running, add the flour-salt mixture just until incorporated.

13. While the dough rests, sprinkle one half of the sugar-zest mixture down the center third of each of  the two flat pieces of parchment.

14. Divide the dough in half, and place handfuls of each half of dough down the center of each of the two flat pieces of parchment, so that the dough is resting on the sugar-zest mixture. Shape each into a log about two inches in diameter. Gently roll the log back and forth in the sugar-zest mixture, to coat the outside of each log with the mixture.

15. Gently fold the parchment over each log. Place the logs onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate for one hour.

16. Fifteen minutes before ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

17. After one hour, remove one of the logs from the refrigerator. Use a sharp knife to cut each log into coins approximately 1/4 inch thick.

18. Gently transfer the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets. Space the cookies approximately 2 inches apart.

19. Transfer the first two baking sheets to the oven. Bake the cookies until fragrant and lightly golden, approximately 15 minutes.

20. While the first two sheets of cookies are baking, prepare the second two sheets of cookies.

21. Once the first two sheets of cookies are baked, remove the pans from the oven and set aside on a heat safe surface. Place the second set of baking trays in the oven.

22. Allow the cooked cookies to cool slightly before using a spatula to gently transfer them to the baking rack.

23. Continue baking and preparing, switching sheets and using the baking rack, until you have used up all of the cookie dough.