For lemon tartlets, make a simple lemon custard pastry cream.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 55 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 cookies |
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 teaspoon water
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest (Optional)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup very finely chopped pecans
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract, orange juice, water, and orange zest; beat until blended. Add flour and pecans and mix with a spoon until blended but crumbly. Cover and place in the refrigerator until chilled, 3 hours to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Scoop up about a golf-ball-size of dough and press together into a ball. Flatten and smooth the edges, making sure the dough is firm and not flaky or crumbly, or else cookies will not rise or expand as they bake. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
- Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool, 8 to 10 minutes more.
- Sift some confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl. Drop a cookie into the sugar, shake the bowl, flip the cookie, and agitate again to cover in sugar. Repeat with remaining cookies, adding more sugar as necessary.
- Only use freshly squeezed orange juice and fresh or frozen orange zest (the dark part of the orange skin). A medium orange will easily yield the juice and zest required. Grate the orange with the fine part of a grater down to the lighter part of the skin.
- Be sure to finely chop the pecans almost to a powder. You want the flavor and texture, but the size of the nuts needs to be small.
- When the dough is initially made it will appear crumbly. Chilling the dough keeps the butter from blending completely with the flour and results in the “shortbread” texture of the cookie.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 168 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 16 g |
| Cholesterol | 20 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 55 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
the only thing I changed, was I added a splash of almond extract with the vanilla extract. It was my first time every making these cookies, and they came out AMAZING! They’re a new favorite in our house!! SO GOOD!
I make Mexican Wedding Cookies every Christmas and this year I made these because of the interesting twist. I prefer chopped nuts rather than ground. As far as that interesting twist, I prefer them without the orange zest or juice. Thanks for sharing your recipe.