Serves: Makes 32 cookies
Cost: ~€1.80
Preparation time: ~4 hours
Calories: ~72 calories per cookie
Hi everyone – I hope you’re all having a great weekend so far. While I think of it, let me tell you: I changed my site search functionality. I don’t know if you ever tried to find anything by searching in the search box before. I did recently… damn, was that a mistake?! Forty results and the most relevant result, the one I actually wanted, was on page 4 or something crazy. If you search for things now you actually get decent, site-wide, pertinent results, rather than just a weird cryptic search of the post tags only. Give it a try if you want – the search box is in the left side of the page at the top!
Alas, I didn’t roll off to Paris first thing in the morning on my most recent bank holiday on Thursday, so no more photos for you right at the moment, though if you’re interested, I could post some photos of a trip I took to Stockholm in 2011! It was my first time visiting the city itself – normally I just pass through the airport – and despite the ice and snow it was very enjoyable. We were blessed with some wonderful snow on the second day we were there which allowed for some beautiful scenery.
Speaking of Sweden, tonight I’ll be cooking up something Swedish for dinner which I’m looking forward to sharing with you on Tuesday. In the meantime though I thought I’d share these little cookies with you today. I did promise you “cookies with a twist” in my last post – well, these cookies are just bursting with a twist of zest and juice from three different types of fruit. In my “taste-testing” amongst colleagues some people weren’t big fans of the grapefruit addition. They thought it made for a slightly bitter aftertaste. I actually enjoyed the slight bitterness myself, though I might actually try it with lime next time in place of grapefruit… just for a change.
I’m also unsure on the best way of serving these. I made some which I pressed really flat before baking, and some which weren’t so flat. The flat ones were crisp of course, the thicker ones were slightly chewy – I’d recommend making some of both because they were all tasty. The boiling down of the juice ensured a highly concentrated citrus flavour without having to add too much flour to absorb it as well. Let me know if you give them a try!
I’m off in Paris today to try and find some Konnyaku from the Japanese supermarket. I saw a post about it on Sissi’s blog here and it reminded me that it’s something I’ve been wanting to try for absolutely ages, so I’m very curious as to what it might be like. I think I might use the opportunity of being in the neighbourhood to go and visit my favourite Korean BBQ restaurant as well – perhaps I’ll grab a few photos of that to share :). I hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you back again on Tuesday!
Citrus Snaps
[learn_more caption=”Video Recipe”]
Ingredients
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 200g Plain Flour
- 100g Butter
- Zest and juice from 2 Oranges
- Zest and Juice from 1 Lemon
- Zest and Juice from 1 Grapefruit or 2 Limes
Instructions
- Start off by zesting the oranges, lemon and grapefruit or limes and then cut them in half and juice them.
- Transfer the juice into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook down until you have about 5 tbsps of liquid left – this will take about 15 minutes of boiling, depending on the juice yield of your fruit.
- Set the concentrated juice aside and allow to cool and then cream the butter and sugar together. Once fluffy, mix in the zest and then add the flour. Once the flour is mixed in, add the juice. Place the dough into the refrigerator and allow to set for about 3 hours.
- After three hours, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and then remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 32 equally sized pieces. If still sticky, toss the pieces in a little flour before rolling to a ball between your hands. Place the pieces onto a greased baking sheet and flatten to about 4mm thick (so the rounds are about 5-6cm in diameter – a bit more or less depending on how you like them. Allow room for expansion during cooking.
- Place into the preheated oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until just starting to brown around the edges. Watch them well towards the end of the cooking time as they can burn quickly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing from the tray and allowing to cool on a rack before enjoying 🙂
My cheeks start to pucker each time I hear “Citrus” and all those pics of the juice and zest really got them going!
Love the old fashioned tea set …. reminds me of my mum inlaw. She loves those things! So very English 🙂
Thanks Ping – the cookies would definitely make your cheeks pucker too… they’re very tangy!
The cookies Charles are so perfectly round and so even in thickness. They look amazing. I would like to try them with the grapefruit addition because I love bitter marmalade and I’m this would have a similar result. Citrus and sweet go so well together. Have a lovely time in Gay Paris! xx
Thanks Charlie – I love bitter marmalades too… really deep orange, caramelly, dark, bitter marmalade… yum! Makes me realise actually, I’m all out of the stuff right now!
Your citrus snaps look like they would be very tasty with a cup of coffee or tea. I hope your search for konnyaku in Paris is successful. I’ll think of you wandering the picturesque streets while I stay in for the weekend, coughing my little heart out, and babying my sore throat with tea with honey and lemon.
Hi A_ – thanks so much! I hope you’re feeling better by now… it’s always bad when one is feeling poorly, especially if it’s on a weekend!
I love the thin, “snappy” bite ones:) I love the addition of zest.. the lime would be cool as well, because you’d see little green flecks throughout. Lovely!!!
Hi Barb – yeah, I’m with you I think. After thinking about it a bit, I greatly enjoyed the really thin ones! Agreed as well – lime, with the little green flecks would be a wonderfully pretty.
Now those look and sound fabulous and a perfect recipe for us here in Andalucia with all the lovely citrus fruit we have!
Hi Chica – I can well imagine. It reminds me actually – I need to try and make some marmalade sometime… mmmm 😀
OHHHH NIIICE!
Thanks Nada
These look delicious, Charles. We love thin, crisp cookies with butter in them.
Me too! Aren’t they the bestest 😀
I love anything with citrus so these are right up my alley! Happy weekend!
Thanks Laura – Citrus rocks… makes me feel healthy and spring-like in winter and then cool and refreshed in summer… it’s the perfect flavour!
I Love citrus in baking and these look delicious!! A friend introduced me to Konnyaku a few years ago – it’s delicious and a much healthier alternative to noodles.
Thanks BA – So much more healthy isn’t it?! I couldn’t believe it when I checked out the calorie count!!
Yep, I’m making these. They sound fantastic Charles! And I was just lamenting that I did’t have any dessert in the house, nor was I feeling particularly inspired. Now I’m feeling inspired and will have my late night snack! I think I’ll be using the lime in place of grapefruit though. I’m just not a grapefruit fan. And I’ll have to try out your new search function. I use it frequently actually. Oh I’m also making more of your roasted chickpeas today – Mr. N’s request for school snack this week!
Hi Kristy – too bad you’re not a fan of the grapefruit, although the flavour doesn’t come across too strongly. You just get a final bitter flavour from it. I like it a lot personally, though I can understand if you used lime instead – I will myself next time too!
Let me know if you give it a try – I think if you made some really big, super-flat ones and then sqished ice-cream between two of them it would make a most excellent dessert!
Enjoy the chickpeas!
I just love how you used 3 kinds of citrus in these. They look like a really flavorful shortbread-type cookie.
Thanks Betsy – they were such a beautiful colour and flavour! 🙂
These cookies are so perfect! I love the citrus surprise in them !
Hi Zee – Surprise indeed, they were very tangy 🙂
I love lemony anything, these look wonderful, Charles. You’ll have to tell me where the Japanese market is, I may want to check it out in September. I want to try those dumplingy things Sissi made too! I really like her blog. We had a glorious weekend at the cottage, with abnormally high temperatures! The lake was almost warm enough for a dip, not quite though (it’s spring fed, so it’s always chilly). Looking forward to Tuesday’s post. Today is our ‘bank’ holiday!!
Hi Eva – absolutely, there’s a great deal of wonderful Japanese restaurants in the same area too – just off Avenue de l’Opéra. Maybe you’ll be aiming to fill up on primarily French things when you’re here, but some of the restaurants are delicious – I especially recommend a noodle place called Naniwa-ya and an Okonomiyaki place which is two doors up! The store is called “Kioko” and is at 46 Rue Petits Champs, Paris!
Charles, at first I saw the word “schnapps” 😉 I think it’s cocktail time here!
Slightly bitter, tangy biscuits… it sounds like heaven! They also look so sunny and cheerful (both the step-by-step photos and the final result). They would be perfect for this cold and cloudy weather. If I remember to buy other things than strawberries (they hypnotise me now) I will make your biscuits soon.
Thank you for linking to my blog. It’s very kind 🙂 I hope you can buy konnyaku soon (or maybe you have bought it already?). It’s fun to experiment with! (Although don’t be put off by the fishy smell while you rinse it! it disappears very quickly).
I’m looking forward to trying the konnyaku – I’m so curious as to what it will be like, really I cannot imagine it at all! 😀
I don’t know about Switzerland but it’s getting really warm here now… temperature is forecast to be high 20s tomorrow… summer really seems to be on its way!
Loving all the citrusy flavors (especially going a little heavy handed on the zest), I’d be such a happy person if I could snack on these cookies at work all day long 😉
Hi Gourmantine, thanks so much – I like your description, “heavy handed on the zest” – hehe, definitely. It was a beautifully zesty flavour… you don’t often get cookies which are so tangy I find!
Hi Charles,
I’m just getting back to business after a long weekend. Boy was it nice to enjoy a bit of time with the family. These crisps look SO good…although I’m with the few that are not fans of grapefruit. I remember a while back you were reviewing a food photography book. Not sure if you’ve been trying new techniques, but I just love your first picture with the oranges in the background…and I’d love to see the pictures of Stockholm from your 2011 trip.
Hi Barb – you’re the only one who expressed an interested in seeing the photos! Maybe no-one else cares 🙁 Well, I’ll post them in an upcoming post soon, specially for you!
The book I was reading is Plate to Pixel, by the very talented Hélène Dujardin. I highly recommend the book if you’re ever interested in studying food photography and styling in more depth!
How pretty to eat dunked in tea!!! LOVELY 🙂
Hi Squishy – I can’t agree more… the flavour combination works really well with Earl Grey!
Looks delicious! If I ever try to make those I would try to make the thicker, I like when the cookies are chewy inside )
Hi Marianna, after reflection, I think they work best as a “snap”. Make them really thin… it’s a much more fun way to eat them I think, but your choice of course!
These cookies look divine! Perfect with a cup of hot “chai”.
Thanks Asmita, they were really good!
OOOHHHHH! The cookie monster is SO HAPPY! Sweet and sour and everything nice! 🙂 These are the perfect little cookie for anything, but I would definitely love dipping them in my afternoon tea for an afternoon refresh! Hope you’re having a successful trip to Paris. BTW – the celebration of garlic post is up in case you didn’t receive a ping.
Thanks MJ – they were really tart, but sweet… it’s not a flavour combination I come across much in cookies because people only use a “hint” of citrus instead of going really overboard 😀
Thanks so much for letting me know about the celebration of garlic post – I did so enjoy reading it! 🙂
I love citrus cookies and these sound like they will be paked with flavor! I just wish I had the time to try all the recipes I want to try from your site Charles! You have an amazingly wonderful collection
Thank you so much Sawsan – you’re so kind to say so! I hope you have a chance to try the cookies… if you like things jammed full of citrus buzz then you’ll love these!
What a perfect snack to go with the tea. I love thin cookies like this. The citrus flavor is definitely my favorite. Recently I am more in love with citrus than chocolate (don’t know what happened to me).
Great that you worked on the search box. I have A LOT to improve my blog but zero time to work on it…. sigh!
Thanks Nami – after eating through both types I’m definitely going to make them only thin from now on… definitely best this way! 🙂
Of course, I’ll always love chocolate, but I agree… citrus flavours are big for me right now… fresh, full of life flavours!
By the way, I’m planning to go to that brasserie recommend by Leemei on your blog soon. I think I will head out there for a dinner on a weekend in a couple of weeks. It looks really tasty!
Look at all the goodness I missed while we were away! Love the citrus in these biscuits Charles – and, the fact that they are ‘snaps’ and not cookies, makes me feel that they are far healthier :).
Thanks so much Kelly – they were really strong and tangy… it’s not a flavour you encounter much in cookies (snaps!)to be honest… the tanginess is often much more muted!
Hi Charles. Have just finished making these and absolutely love the strong citrus taste. I only had lemons and oranges, but personally I prefer just those rather than grapefruit. The first tray were very crisp on the outside and slightly chewy in the centre. I baked the other tray for a bit longer with the oven temp. down a bit lower and they were crisp all through and a bit darker in colour, but still gorgeous.
Lovely recipe!!!!! and I will definitely make these again
😀 Glad they turned out well – it’s one of those things when the oven can really play a big role in the success. As they can darken or burn so quickly when they’re done, especially around the edges, I can imagine that quite some testing might need to be done to find that perfect temperature with different ovens!
I love crisp cookies. Crisp citrus cookies? Even better. These look wonderful. The last time I used your search function was when you had that contest. That WASN’T cheating. That was research. It served me well then, although I was not the ultimate victor.