Lemon Stars

Total Time: 42 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• tiny pinch salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons light cream
• 3/4 teaspoon lemon oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon rind, grated
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (1-1/2 sticks)
• 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1 (10 ounce) jar lemon curd (homemade may be used)

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 350 degrees f. line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone paper.
• 2 mix flour, cornstarch, baking power, and salt in a medium bowl. mix yolks, cream, and lemon oil together in a measuring cup.
• 3 cream sugar with butter, lemon rind and shortening until lightened and pasty. beat yolk mixture into creamed butter until just combined.
• 4 add dry ingredients and beat until mixture begins to clump together (about 18-20 seconds on lowest speed of electric mixer.
• 5 turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently to shape into a soft dough. (can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen up to 6 months.
• 6 working with 1/4th of dough at a time, roll to about 1/8-inch thick on a well-floured work surface. use a star cookie cutter to cut out shapes (or use any cookie cutter of choice). using a spatula, transfer cut-outs to prepared baking sheet, placing them about 1-inch apart. using a tiny hor d'oeuvre cutter cut a star out of the middle of one sheet of the cookies (or use any shape of choice.) the cut-out cookies will color faster than the others so it is best to have all of them on a separate baking sheet.
• 7 bake in preheated oven until golden, 10-12 minutes.l repeat with remaining dough.
• 8 transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature. when they are completely cool, put a little lemon curd on the cookies that will be the bottom cookies. top with a cut-out cookie offsetting it. serve.