GINGER LEMON WAFERS

GINGER LEMON WAFERS 

I need a drum roll to introduce this cookie. Tastes so good it hurts. Ouch! Take it all the way to Madison Avenue then Wall Street. The memory of the enjoyment of this fresh ginger and lemon wafer lasts long after the cookie is gone!

Makes 7 dozen (5 cookies per serving)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 stick (1/2 c.) margarine, softened at room temperature

1/2 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 t. vanilla extract

2 T. zest of 1 lg. lemon plus 1/4 c. squeezed juice from the lemon

1/4 c. peeled, finely diced fresh ginger (use very sharp knife to make clean, tiny cuts)

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Icing:

1/2 c. powdered sugar

a couple T. juice of fresh lemon

In large bowl place margarine, both sugars, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Cream with back of spoon till very smooth.

Add lemon zest and juice plus ginger. Stir well. Ingredients will foam up considerable.

Add flour, then stir and mash till dough forms a ball.

Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll between palms of hands till smooth, about the size of a marble. Place on oiled baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Cookies will flatten as they bake.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven on middle rack about 8-10 minutes. Lift carefully with spatula onto wire cooling rack.

In small cup combine powdered sugar with a little lemon juice, stirring till smooth to achieve a fairly thin icing. While cookies are still warm, drizzle thin streams of icing from the tip of a teaspoon over cookies on rack.

Continue to cool on rack till icing sets. Store leftover cookies in covered container.

Notes: The next time you send cookies to the “Troops”, send this one. No eggs, no milk. Pure unadulterated pleasure in every nibble. Lightly crisped on the outside and soft on the inside.

Although these cookies appear fragile, when I went to the cookie jar the next day to remove a few, they neither stuck together nor crumbled. Great for travel I thought!