Lemon verbena is like cilantro, either you love it or you don’t. My feet are firmly planted in the love it camp. Verbena is citrusy, herbaceous, and perfumey. In the opposing camp, some think it smells like Lemon Pledge. I don’t experience it in that way.
When I was coming up with the idea for Cranberry Lemon Verbena Sherbet, I thought, at first, that I’d like to make a gingersnap cookie rolled in lemon verbena sugar. The gingersnap was excellent, but the strong spices and molasses masked the taste of verbena. I couldn’t taste it at all. A friend suggested making a lemon snap cookie instead. After five or so batches of test cookies, I found a way to get the maximum lemon verbena flavor into a very snappy lemon snap cookie. The cookie is packed with lemon flavor: in the form of lots of lemon zest and ground up dried lemon verbena leaves. Don’t be fooled by the name, though. The snap, snap refers to the double snap of flavor from the zest and the verbena. The cookie is chewy in texture—not crisp.
A perfect complement to my Cranberry Lemon Verbena Sherbet or lemon verbena tinsane.
Be careful to take as little of the bitter white pith when you peel it.
The sugar will turn a lemony yellow, and become somewhat moist.
I form the snaps with a small ice cream scoop, but you can form them with your hands almost as easily.
Ingredients
- 2 medium lemons
- 1 teaspoon dried lemon verbena leaves (see below for how to dry fresh leaves)
- 1 cup (7 oz) sugar
- 2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Remove leaves from the stem. Place them on a rack and then on a sheet pan. Put the sheet pan into the oven and let the leaves dry until they are very dry. You should be able to crumble the leaves between your fingers easily. The time will depend upon how fresh your verbena leaves are. It will take less time than you think, so check them often. Rub the dried leaves between your fingers until they crumble into tiny pieces. Discard any large woody pieces.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
Remove the zest from the lemons using a vegetable peeler. Try to avoid getting too much of the pithy white layer (it’s very bitter) underneath the zest. Combine the lemon zest, ground lemon verbena and sugar in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until the zest in very finely minced.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk them together thoroughly.
Combine the butter and lemon-sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg, honey and lemon juice and continue beating until thoroughly blended. Add the dry ingredients and pulse to incorporate, but do not overmix.
Form the cookies by either using a small ice cream scoop, or by forming small pieces of dough into 1”inch balls with your fingers. Dip the tops of the cookies in granulated sugar (or to make them extra sparkly, crystal sugar) and place them on the prepared sheet pans sugar side up. Using the flat bottom of a glass, gently press the tops of the cookies until they are slightly flattened.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Let the cookies cool for a minute or two before removing them from the sheet pan and transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container.
http://madeleineeffect.com/2014/11/lemon-snap-snap/
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