I tried to make these grapefruit cookies a couple of years ago and totally failed. I know why they failed now. I didn't refrigerate the dough long enough. At one point, Martha says to wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. This is where Martha Stewart is a liar. It took mine a good 3-4 hours, and we'll get into this more later.
Despite all of the lies surrounding this recipe, it is SO. GOOD. I used oranges instead of grapefruit because...well I had oranges and I didn't feel like buying grapefruit. I used 2 medium sized oranges to get the zest to be about the equivalent of the grapefruit.
As a side note, I have had these as grapefruit cookies, made by my friend Amy who is an honest to goodness chef, and they are just as delicious with that citrus as well.
Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies
(feel free to sub in oranges where it calls for grapefruit)
Ingredients
- Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
- 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 large egg yolks
- Pink Grapefruit Cream Filling
- Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.
- Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick using a lightly floured rolling pin. Using a lightly floured 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.
- Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Grapefruit filling
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice
Directions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in honey. Add juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl, cover, and set aside until ready to use.
Again, I cannot reiterate enough, I would let the dough sit in the fridge at least 2-4 hours. I made mine the day before I was planning on baking them so that worked out great too. The dough is going to come to room temperature very fast, so you need to work quickly rolling it, cutting it out, and getting it on the cookie sheets.
I had enough to roll mine out 3 or 4 times, and I would put it in the freezer on a plate just to firm back up a little between rollings.
This dough will be sticky so use lots of flour when rolling it out! Flour the counter, flour both sides of the dough, flour the rolling pin.
What you are looking at is sticky dough. Sticky, delicious dough. Feel free to eat some at this point.
Grapefruit filling! I just put it in a small bowl and kept it, covered, in the fridge until I was ready to use it. It got pretty firm, but was spreadable consistency after 20 minutes or so at room temperature.
Get ready for fast rolling of dough.
Isn't that so pretty? The crisp, baked, orangeness?
Aaaand scene.
Recipe source: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook