foodconsumer.org: Health Recipes:Lemon Drops Health Recipes:Lemon Drops ================================================================================ admin on 09/10/2009 04:23:00 A Lemon Treat for Labor Day By Dana Jacobi for the American Institute for Cancer Research Searching for a cookie to serve during the Labor Day weekend, I consulted my 2,000 volume vintage cookbook collection. Most people reach for RuthWakefield’s Toll House Tried & True Recipes and linger on page 216 where the original chocolate chip cookie recipe, Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies is found. Of my older books, though, I prefer Mary Meade’s Magic Recipes: A Cookbook for The Electric Blender. Published in 1952, many of its recipes are so right for today that this book seems almost prescient. Whirl up Frosted Tea, combining cold water, instant tea (or a bottle of brewed tea), and lemon sorbet for a refreshing drink. During the summer I often make chilled Green Tweed Soup. This low calorie soup blends green pepper, cucumber, parsley, scallions, Worcestershire sauce, celery seeds and fresh dill with buttermilk. Or use yogurt, which was nearly unknown in the United States in 1952. What better way to enjoy vegetables on a steamy August day? I tried the Lemon Drops recipe in this cookbook and the cookies came out golden, buttery, and divinely tart-sweet. I updated the blender recipe by cutting fat and substituting whole wheat pastry flour. This produced almost the same result providing you mind the directions below. They also duplicate a favorite commercial cookie from that early blender era, Brown Edge Cookies, which came in rich vanilla and tangy lemon flavors. Nabisco discontinued these gems in 1996. Combine whole-wheat pastry flour with regular flour. Use unsalted butter for a more flavorful and crisper cookie. Drop the dough in really small buttons, about 3/4-inch wide, preferably onto a dark-colored baking sheet. Be sure to rotate the pans and reverse their position in the oven. Finally, these cookies should be deep brown on the bottom and around their edges. Lemon Drops *1 cup whole wheat pastry flour * 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder * 1 small or 1/2 large lemon * 2 Tbsp. cold water * 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons * 1 large egg * 1 cup sugar * 3/4 tsp. salt Set racks in top and bottom third of oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray, and set aside. In mixing bowl, whisk the two flours with baking power, and set aside. Using swivel-blade peeler, zest the lemon. Cut off two ends, and standing lemon on one end on work surface, use sharp knife to remove white pith in strips, discarding pith. Cut lemon flesh into chunks and place in blender, add water and zest, and whirl until lemon is pureed and zest finely chopped. Add butter, egg, sugar, and salt to blender, and whirl until mixture is smooth. Pour lemon mixture over dry ingredients and whisk until they are well combined. Drop batter, by scant teaspoon onto prepared baking sheets, using a second teaspoon to push and shape the batter into rounded, 3/4-inch buttons. Space cookies 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake cookies for 5 minutes. Rotate pans and reverse their position in oven. Bake 5 minutes longer, or until cookies have dark brown ring around edges and are browned on bottom. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 1 minute, then transfer them with a spatula to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will be crisp when cooled. If reusing, wipe baking sheets with paper towel and re-spray them. These cookies keep for 5 days layered between wax paper sheets in airtight container. If they soften let cookies stand on a plate and they will regain their snap. Makes 5 1/2 dozen cookies Serving Size: 3 cookies Per serving: 100 calories, 3.5 g total fat (2 gm saturated fat), 17g carbohydrate, 1 g protein, 1g dietary fiber, 110 mg sodium. Something Different is written by Dana Jacobi, author of 12 Best Foods Cookbook and contributor to AICR’s New American Plate Cookbook: Recipes for a Healthy Weight and a Healthy Life.