Citrus Sandwich Cookies

Total Time: 2 hrs 22 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 22 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
• coarse sugar, for sprinkling
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• salt, a pinch

Recipe

• 1 make the dough: in a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside.
• 2 in the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on med-high speed until well combined, about 1 minute.
• 3 beat in the egg yolk and citrus zest.
• 4 on low speed, add the flour mixture and mix just until blended.
• 5 scrape the dough onto a work surface and gather it up into a disk; wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm.
• 6 cut and bake the cookies: position two racks near the center of the oven; preheat oven to 350°; line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.
• 7 place the chilled dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle it lightly with flour.
• 8 using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/8 inch.
• 9 using a 1 ½ inch scalloped cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible from the dough.
• 10 with a 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the centers of half of the cookies (these will be the tops).
• 11 stack and press together the scraps and chill for 15 minutes before rerolling.
• 12 carefully transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing them ½ inch apart and placing the tops and bottoms on separate sheets (the tops will take a minute or so less to bake than the bottoms).
• 13 sprinkle the cookies with coarse sugar; bake cookies, two sheets at a time, for 9-11 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom (not on top).
• 14 transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely.
• 15 make the filling: in a small saucepan, bring the orange and lemon juices to a boil over high heat; boil for 3-5 minutes, until reduced to about 1 tablespoon; let cool completely.
• 16 in the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter, powdered sugar, cream, salt, and cooled citrus juices on medium speed until smooth.
• 17 assemble cookies: spread about 1 teaspoon of filling onto the bottom of bone of the whole cookies.
• 18 top with one of the cut-out cookies, right side up, and press the cookies lightly together.
• 19 repeat with the remaining cookies and filling.
• 20 serve cookies at room temperature or chilled.