Printable Area
Romanian Holiday Cookies
Recipe courtesy Blogger Mihaela Pesa Dascalu
- Total Time:
- 1 hr 5 min
- Prep:
- 30 min |
- Inactive Prep:
- 20 min |
- Cook:
- 15 min
- Level:
- Easy
- Yield:
- about 4 dozen, 1 1/2-inch cookies.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch salt
- 1 cup lard, at room temperature, cut into pieces
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup water
- Walnuts, Turkish delight or slivered almonds, for decoration
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, for dusting
Directions
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
In a heavy duty mixer, beat lard until softened. Add the egg, vanilla, and dry ingredients all at once. Mix on low speed until a thick dough forms. Cook's Note: Dough can be piped into flowers, shaped using a cookie press, or rolled into 1-inch balls.
Place a piece of walnut or Turkish delight in the middle of each cookie and press a little.
Line the cookies on a baking sheet (ungreased, or lined with parchment paper), leaving a 1-inch space in between. Bake in the preheated oven 15 minutes, or until slightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven, allow to cool and dust with powdered sugar.