Crispy Lemon Cookie
Our dear friend, Brian Levy, @bybrianlevy, who wrote the cookbook Good and Sweet, broke the code on a mystery we were struggling to solve: how to make a crispy cookie with our date sugar. By nature, our sugar tends to be great at making fluffy cakey cookies and fudgey cookies but we had yet to get the proportions right for a crispy one. Here, Brian has artfully crafted a beautiful crispy lemon cookie that we are obsessing over. You must try them immediately.
“I'm a broken record, but...date sugar is not like other sugars, because it's made from whole fruit, dried and ground to a powder. That means that in addition to its natural sugars, the powder contains a bunch of fiber--plus potassium, magnesium, and antioxidants.
If you've read Good & Sweet, you know that sweetening with fruit rather than added sugars is more complicated than any 1-for-1 swap, precisely because of the nutrients that fruits add to the equation. But with the right types and ratio of fats, flour, starches, plus tweaks to shaping and baking time and temperature, I ended up with a perfectly crispy and delicious, deeply flavorful lemon cookie, sweetened with date sugar and which happens to be gluten-free.”
- Cook 20 min
- Serves 20 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup (120 g) oat flour
- 1/4 cup + 2 tsp (35 g) cornstarch, or 50/50 blend of potato starch and tapioca starch
- 1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (230 g) Organic Date Sugar
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 small organic lemon, zested
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp (110 g) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- lemon juice from 1 lemon (30-45 ml)
Instructions
- Position two racks near middle of oven. Heat oven to 325°F convection or 350°F non-convection. Line two 13x18-inch half-sheet pans with parchment
- In stand mixer bowl, combine oat flour, starch(es), date sugar, salt, and baking soda. Use microplane to zest lemon and add zest to flour mixture
- Juice lemon (should produce 30-45 ml). In spouted cup, combine juice with olive oil, egg, and vanilla. Whisk together
- With mixer running on low, slowly add liquid mixture to dry. Continue mixing for 1-2 minutes until it comes together as soft, glossy dough
- Use palms to roll all dough into 30-gram balls (smaller than golf ball). Store on lined sheet pan
- Sandwich each ball between two parchment squares. Press firmly with flat plate until pressed into 3.5-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick
- Place on empty lined sheet pan with 1/2 inch between cookies. They won't spread much
- Lower oven temperature to 300°F convection / 325°F non-convection. Bake 20 minutes until deep golden and slightly darkened around edge
- Let rest on cooling rack until cookies and pans completely cool. Store in airtight container up to 4 days
