Ingredients

1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted butter

6 egg yolks

1½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 lemon, juiced

Directions

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set them aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and egg yolks at medium speed until well blended. Add the confectioner’s sugar and continue to beat until the mixture turns much lighter in color.

Stir the baking powder into the flour, and then add flour to the batter. With the mixer on low speed, add the lemon juice. Continue to beat on low speed until well incorporated.

Remove the dough from the mixer and, with a sturdy spatula, fold the dough together. Sprinkle with a little flour to make it less sticky. Form the dough into a ball, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, and knead it on a well-floured surface. Once it’s workable, roll the dough out to ¼-inch thickness.

Place cookie mold, commonly used to make Springerle cookies and Dutch-style Speculaas, face down on rolled out dough and press down firmly. (Or if you are lucky enough to have a carved rolling pin, roll firmly across the dough.) Carefully pull up mold, leaving an imprint in the dough. Repeat if there’s room. Use cookie cutters to cut out the imprinted dough.

Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cookies should be creamy in color, with just a tinge of golden color at the edges. If not, put them back in and keep checking every two minutes until they’re done. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool.