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Scoop up Mulled Apple Cider Ice Cream

Published by Kathy Hunt

This time of year, along with a surplus of apples, I usually have a refrigerator crammed full of apple cider. In my twenties I could blame this excess on my next-door-neighbors and their prolific orchard. Every fall they’d collect the grubbiest apples, take them to a cider mill and press bushel upon bushel into sweet, murky cider. What they didn’t freeze, they gave away to family, friends, colleagues and me. Although I ended up with more than I could ever consume, this distribution barely put a dent in their cider supply.

What did my neighbors do with all that apple cider? They roasted meats and sautéed vegetables in it. They poured it over dry cereal and, of course, drank it. Think of any creative way to use this beverage in your kitchen and, chances are, they did it.

Inspired by their resourcefulness, I occasionally cook with cider. As this practice is more rare than regular, I have multiple jugs of cider hiding out in my fridge.

When I do dig out a half-gallon container, I use the cider to jazz up pumpkin and butternut squash soups, quick breads and cookies. As of late, though, I’ve been spicing it up, boiling it down and churning it into ice cream.

Mulled apple cider ice cream is delicious on its own, atop apple cobbler, pear tart or mince pie or alongside gingersnaps or a rich gingerbread. Needless to say, it’s a lovely ending to a fall meal and especially to Thanksgiving dinner.

MULLED APPLE CIDER ICE CREAM
Makes roughly 5 cups

2 1/2 cups apple cider
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups low-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the apple cider, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger and nutmeg in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer, whisking periodically, until the liquid thickens and reduces down to 1 cup, 25 to 30 minutes. Pour the mulled cider through a fine mesh strainer and into a bowl; I usually strain the cider into a glass measuring cup first to ensure that it’s been reduced enough and then pour it into a bowl.

Add the cream, milk and cinnamon to the cider and whisk until well-combined. Refrigerate for an hour or until chilled.

If using an ice cream maker, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for making ice cream. If doing this by hand, pour the cream mixture into a shallow, glass or ceramic dish and place in the freezer. Remove the pan from the freezer at 40 to 60 minute intervals and stir to break up the ice. Continue freezing and stirring until a thick ice cream has formed.

Doubly Delicious, Double Apple Muffins

Published by Kathy Hunt

Walk out your front door on any given day this week and what do you see? Withered leaves scattered everywhere. Portly pumpkins plunked on stairways. Colorful mums planted here and there. On the sidewalks people stroll by in coats and scarves, warming their bare hands with take-away coffee cups. For me, these sights can only mean one thing. Apple-picking time is here.

Whether you raid your old neighbors’ orchard as I brazenly do or come by your apples honestly, you may soon find yourself glutted with this pome fruit. What to do with that extra pound, peck or bushel is an age-old quandary. When you’re tired of baking apple pies and tarts and boiling down applesauce and apple butter, I’d suggest moving on to moist cakes, breads and muffins.

Back in March I shared an apple cake recipe inspired by a winter trip to Switzerland. As its name suggested, apple-almond kuchen was packed with tart apples and sweetly savory almonds. Want to reduce your apple supply by a few pounds and enjoy a deliciously fruity sweet? Bake this Swiss cake.

Eight months and another trip later I’ve come up with a second travel-inspired, apple treat, double apple muffins. Very loosely based on the no-bake, Danish dessert aebelkage, these muffins give you a double dose of fruit with the inclusion of diced apples and applesauce.

DOUBLE APPLE MUFFINS
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup applesauce
1 1/3 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the applesauce, apples, sugars, butter and vanilla.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the apple mixture. Stir together until just combined. Spoon equal amounts of batter into the muffin cups.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown on top and the muffins have separated from the sides of the cups. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Hometown Favorite — Stracciatella

Published by Kathy Hunt

This Saturday I’ll be back on my home turf, speaking at the Pittsburgh Public Market about writing, cooking and writing a seafood cookbook. While I’m in town, I won’t just be talking about food. I’ll also be eating my way through the city. Primanti’s fry-filled sandwiches, Pamela’s massive pancakes and Pierogies Plus’s handmade namesakes all appear on the weekend menu. Somewhere along the way I hope to encounter a bowl of steaming stracciatella, too. To me, stracciatella is what plain, old chicken noodle soup is to most—a restorative dish for when you’re cold, sick, blue or just craving a taste of home.

A specialty of Rome but popular throughout Central Italy and, of course, my hometown, stracciatella may remind the uninitiated of egg drop soup. Granted, it does feature two of the same major ingredients, eggs and chicken stock. Yet the resulting dish seems far more velvety and savory than the Chinese soup. I suspect that the ever-present Parmesan cheese and occasional addition of herbs such as basil and parsley are what make the Italian version so desirable.

To make stracciatella, grated Parmesan is whisked together with eggs, pepper and salt. The mixture is then drizzled into a boiling chicken broth. Cooked as they swirl about in the liquid, the cheesy eggs form the soup’s telltale, ragged strands. At this point herbs may be added to the mixture.

Who makes the best stracciatella in the ‘burgh? Give me the weekend and I’ll let you know.

STRACCIATELLA
When adding the eggs, make a point of stirring the liquid as you pour. This way you’ll ensure that you have shards of egg rather than one big, cheese-infused blob.

7 cups chicken stock
3 eggs
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Bring the stock to a boil. Whisk together the eggs, cheese, basil, salt and pepper.

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the boiling stock, stirring to break up the eggs. Continue to boil for about 5 minutes, stirring periodically to keep the eggs from sticking together. Serve immediately.

Delightful Danish Brown Bread

Published by Kathy Hunt

Tasty Danish lunch featuring brown bread

At the end of summer I spent two idyllic weeks in the magical, Scandinavian land known as the Kingdom of Denmark. Vikings, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Hans Christian Anderson as well as Legos, Lars von Trier and Chef Rene Redzepi have all called this series of lovely islands home. Frequently ranked as the world’s happiest country, Denmark has the world’s highest minimum wage, a high per capita income, environmental and historic preservation, free university education and universal healthcare. It’s a country of breathtaking architecture, influential designers, renowned writers, fervent cyclists, golden fields, rugged coastlines and amazingly fresh, tasty, wholesome foods.

Two loaves of Danish brown bread

Weeks after returning from vacation I remain wildly smitten with Denmark. Top among my obsessions are Danish pastries, films, mystery writers, the TV series Forbrydelsen, Ilse Jacobsen rain boots and the country’s dark, nutty brown bread. I first tried this hearty specialty six years ago in Sweden. There it’s known simply as Danish bread. In Denmark it’s called rugbrød, a flavorful, dark rye bread chocked full of whole grains and fiber. Danes eat it at breakfast. I ate it every chance that I could get.

Typical breakfast in Copenhagen includes a slice of brown bread

Back in the States it’s been difficult not only to find a recipe but also the ingredients for rugbrød. In spite of being in New York City where I have access to a large, global pantry, I ended up buying barley malt syrup and cracked rye online. As for the recipe, I cobbled together one that’s loosely based upon Mogen’s Rye Bread from Camilla Plum’s The Scandinavian Kitchen (Kyle Books, 2011). Unlike Plum’s creation, mine does not use a sourdough starter; because my hunger for Danish brown bread was tremendous, I didn’t want to wait over five days for the starter to ferment. Instead I used a poolish sponge or starter, which only requires five hours to leaven.

Brown bread batter and dough

In the following recipe you can replace the poolish with sourdough starter. Likewise, you can eliminate the beer and just use water. I prefer a mix of seeds but that’s also a baker’s choice. Although I did make this with light rye flour, I suspect that dark rye would be even better. Serve the bread with good quality butter, cheese, apple butter or smoked fish.

DANISH BROWN BREAD
Makes 2 (8″ x 4″) loaves

for the starter:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast

for the bread:
1 1/4 cups starter
2 cups cracked rye
2 cups rye flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 cup beer (lager)
2 cups water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons barley malt syrup

To make the starter, mix the flour, water and yeast in a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and allow the mixture to ferment for five hours at room temperature. Note that, once it’s finished fermenting, you can refrigerate the starter for up to three days.

Measure out 1 1/4 cups of starter. Place that along with the cracked rye, rye flour, wheat flour, sunflower and flax seeds, salt, beer, 2 cups of water and barley malt syrup in a large bowl. Mix together until well combined. Cover and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.

Grease two 8″ x 2″ loaf pans and set aside.

After 30 minutes check the dough’s consistency. If it seems overly dry and unyielding, stir in up to 1/4 cup of water; you want the dough to be firm but also soft. Using a spatula, spoon equal amounts of dough into each loaf pan. Smooth out the tops so that the dough is distributed evenly. Cover the pans with a clean, damp dishcloth and allow the loaves to rise for 12 hours at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Uncover the loaves and, using a toothpick or skewer, poke 20 or so holes, from top to bottom, in each loaf. This will stop the loaves from forming air pockets and, subsequently, holes in the bread.

Bake for 1 1/4 hours, until a firm crust forms on top and the loaves begin to separate from the sides of the pan. Remove and cool the loaves in their pans for 5 minutes before removing and placing them on wire racks to cool completely.

Back in Season & in Kitchens – Oysters!

Published by Kathy Hunt

When the invitations to oyster festivals start rolling in, I know that fall is here. Any diehard oyster fan will tell you that during the months of May through August these shellfish spawn, becoming watery and not terribly tasty. Hence the old rule of not eating oysters in a month without an “r” in its name. Once September kicks into full swing, these guys come back, ready to dazzle diners.

Although certainly not the most beautiful of bivalves, these gray, rough-shelled creatures have long held tremendous culinary allure. Considered to be a delicacy and an aphrodisiac, they were over-consumed during the 19th century. This, unsurprisingly, led to shortages. Today both American farmed and wild oysters are abundant, healthy and relatively inexpensive to buy.

What should you do with a mound of live oysters? Like their bivalve brethren, they do well when baked, broiled, grilled, or steamed. They also can be poached, roasted, or sautéed. As evidenced by the event menu above, they’re quite popular when fried, made into a stew or consumed raw on the half shell. High in omega-three fatty acids and iron, they’re likewise low in calories and fat. Talk about a good treat!

Being faced with counter covered in live oysters can be a bit intimidating. Recently I watched first-time shuckers clumsily pry open shell after sharp, jagged shell. Each time someone placed an oyster in the palm of one bare hand and a paring knife in the other, I imagined the imminent ER trip. If you don’t want to risk stabbing yourself or severing a finger, you can always buy pre-shucked oysters. Before taking them home, check to see that the liquid in their container appears clear. You can also find canned, frozen and smoked oysters in grocery, gourmet, and seafood stores.

If you’d like to learn more about oysters and other fish and shellfish, I’ll be teaching a seafood cooking at class at Hockessin, Del.’s Everything but the Kitchen Sink on Wednesday September 25 and at the Sur la Table in King of Prussia, Pa. on Thursday October 17. Details about both events are available by clicking on the bolded links, on the Kitchen Kat events page and at FishMarketBook.com.

OYSTER AND POTATO STEW
Serves 6

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup minced yellow onion
1/2 cup minced celery
1 pound baking potatoes, washed, skinned and diced
2 cups whole milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 dozen oysters, shucked and drained and with their liquid reserved

In a small stockpot melt the butter. Add the onions and celery and sauté until softened and almost translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the potatoes, stir and allow the mixture to cook for 5 minutes. Add the milk, salt, white pepper and reserved oyster juices and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the potatoes have softened slightly. Skim off any fat that has collected on the top.

Add the garlic, oysters and cook until the oysters’ edges begin to curl, about 4 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Serve in warmed bowls with oyster crackers

Swedish Chokladbollar

Published by Kathy Hunt

Six years ago, while visiting a friend in Stockholm, Sweden I tried my first chokladbollar. Rich, chocolatey and with the pleasing chewiness of oats and coconut, this unusual sweet lingered on my mind for months. The next time that I went to Sweden, I tracked down not only the confection but also — and more importantly — a recipe for it.

Just what is chokladbollar? Translated, it means “chocolate balls.” Think of them as very hearty truffles or no-bake cookies. Taking mere minutes to make, they feature cocoa, sugar, oats, butter and a smidgen of coffee. Mix the ingredients together, roll a tablespoon or so into balls, blanket them with coconut and refrigerate until you’re ready to nosh. Served alongside coffee or tea, they’re a delicious afternoon pick-me-up or after-dinner treat.

Two weeks ago I turned up in Southern Sweden where one of the first things that I looked for, besides a hotel room, was a coconut-dusted chocolate ball. Turns out that I was in the right place, at least when it came to chokladbollar. Cafes, coffee shops and even bakeries carry this Scandinavian specialty.

Size varies from location to location. In some places they can be devoured in two bites. In others you need both plate and fork. Because they’re so filling, I stick with the smaller sweet. After all, you can always go back for another chokladbollar.

SWEDISH CHOCOLATE BALLS/CHOKLADBOLLAR
Makes 12 to 16 balls

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 to 2 tablespoons strong, brewed coffee, at room temperature
Shredded coconut, for dusting

In a large bowl mix together the oatmeal, sugar, cocoa powder, butter and 1 tablespoon coffee; if the mixture seems too dry, add the remaining tablespoon of coffee.

Measure out 1 to 2 tablespoons of batter and, using your hands, roll it into a small ball. Once the ball has been formed, roll it in the shredded coconut so that it’s completely covered with white flakes. Place the ball on a large plate and repeat with the remaining batter.

When finished, cover the balls with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until ready to consume.

Semifreddo, the Semi-Frozen Wonder

Published by Kathy Hunt

Ask me to name only three fantastic things about summer and I’d have to pick long days, fun getaways and cold foods. Right now I’m hooked on a chilled sweet that I first tried on a sunny, summer holiday in Italy almost a decade ago. Nope, it’s not icy granita, although, on a sultry afternoon, those sugary shards of ice are quite a treat. Instead, semifreddos are what have captured my heart and my spoon.

Italian for “half cold,” semifreddo refers to any chilled or partially frozen dessert. This includes gelato as well as cakes, tarts and custards. More often than not, I see semifreddo in the form of semi-soft ice cream. As someone who prefers her ice cream a tad mushy and melting, who leaves half-gallons of Breyers and Ben & Jerry’s on the kitchen counter until the contents turn soupy, I am smitten with these semifreddos.

If Spanish cuisine is more to your likening, take heart. In Spain this same sweet dish is known as “semifrio.” No matter what you call it, you’re in for one heck of a cool treat.

WHITE CHOCOLATE-DOUBLE ALMOND SEMIFREDDO
You can dress this semifreddo with an assortment of summer berries or just serve it as is.
Serves 8 to 10

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
7 ounces white chocolate, chopped and melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
11/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk

Line a 9″x5″ loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving about 2″ hanging on either side of the pan. Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Fill a saucepan with 1 to 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Place the eggs and sugar in a metal mixing bowl and put the bowl on top of the saucepan. (You can also use a double boiler for this.) Using an instant-read thermometer to monitor the temperature, whisk the ingredients together until they thicken, become a pale yellow in color and register 140 degrees Fahrenheit on the instant-read thermometer. Once the desired temperature has been reached, continue whisking for another 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate, vanilla, almond extract and salt, stirring briskly until well combined. Set the bowl aside.

In a large mixing bowl and with an electric mixer beat together the cream and milk until stiff peaks begin to form. Add two spoonfuls of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated. Fold the chocolate into the whipped cream.

Spoon the mixture into the chilled loaf pan. Cover the top with the excess plastic wrap and place in the freezer until frozen solid; this could take up to 8 hours. To serve, lift the semifreddo out of the pan and place it, almond-side up, on a platter; you will use the plastic wrap as your carrier. Remove the plastic wrap, slice and serve.

Summer’s Bounty in One Bowl

Published by Kathy Hunt

Whether you belong to a community garden. shop at farm stands and farmers’ markets or tend your own vegetable patch, right now you’re undoubtedly enjoying some of the best of summer’s bounty. Ripe, luscious tomatoes. Crisp, juicy cucumbers. Cool mint and mildly peppery parsley.

Thanks to the generosity of gardening friends and my husband’s passion for all things tomato-based, I’m often thinking of different ways to prepare and eat these gorgeous herbs and veggies. When we tire of gazpachos, salsas and tabbouleh, I turn these gifts into simple salads and let their flavors and colors shine.

The following salad can be topped with feta, grilled and diced haloumi or crumbled Stilton or Gorganzola cheese. You can also use the salad as a filling for pitas and soft tortillas.

“TOC” (TOMATO-ONION-CUCUMBER) SALAD
Serves 4 to 6

4 large, ripe tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, quartered, and sliced
3 large scallions, whites only, chopped
1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
Handful of fresh mint, chopped
Handful of fresh, flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

In a large bowl toss together the tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, mint and parsley. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chilled. Before serving sprinkle feta cheese over the salad.

Clamoring for Grilled Clams

Published by Kathy Hunt

Grilled clams with lemon basil butter

Summertime and the grillin’s easy. Fish are jumpin’ and the shellfish supply is high. (And, no doubt, the ghosts of Ira and George Gershwin are horrified.)

Although a lot of folks stick to cooking shrimp and the occasional lobster on their grills, I like to make my summer, shellfish meals a bit more intriguing with bivalves. Not sure if you’ve met this gang? You’ll surely recognize the members — clams, mussels, oysters and scallops.

Of the aforementioned four, clams, specifically hard-shell clams, are my current favorite. As their name indicates, hard-shell clams possess hard shells. The other variety, soft-shell, has a brittle, thin shell that, because of a long, protruding siphon, doesn’t close completely.

The clams that I grill are East Coast littlenecks. Possessing a grayish shell less than two inches in diameter, these are the smallest hard-shell clams.

Watching clams clean themselves

To clean my clams, I scrub them under running water with a stiff bristled brush. I then place them in a bowl of cold, salted water to soak. Here’s the cool thing about live clams. They will push the salted water, along with any dirt and debris, out of their shells. In other words, add salt and watch the clams do the cleaning for you. That’s exactly what we’re doing in the above photo. Note how silty the water has become in only 20 minutes.

Once the clams have been cleaned and dried, I either place them on foil on a preheated, outdoor grill or line them up on a preheated grill pan. I then close the grill or cover the pan and let the heat perform its magic. As soon as their shells pop open, the clams are done cooking. Any that don’t open within a reasonable time frame — 8 to 10 minutes — should be tossed out.

Clams grilled, I could splash a dash of hot sauce, squeeze of lemon juice or a dollop of barbecue or cocktail sauce on them. Easy!

A School of Lemon Sugar Cookies

Published by Kathy Hunt

plate of iced lemon sugar cookies

Two weeks ago, as I cut and baked seven dozen fish-shaped, lemon sugar cookies for the Fish Market launch party, I thought of my late father and all the rolled, sugar cookies that we’d made together when I was a kid. Every Christmas and spring he’d pull out a large, aquamarine, Pyrex mixing bowl, wooden rolling pin and an eclectic collection of tin cookie cutters and spread these tools over the kitchen counter. This display of kitchen equipment could only mean one thing — we were about to kick off our biannual baking spree.

No matter the season I’d insist on using every cutter, which meant that we ate bunny- and shamrock-shaped cookies at Christmas and reindeer and Santa Claus cookies at Easter. Then again, by the time that I’d finished slathering the cookies with royal icing, colored sugars, chocolate morsels and candy sprinkles, no one could tell exactly what he was consuming. Unquestionably, my dad was a good sport when it came to cookie making and decorating.

Cutting out fish and crab-shaped lemon sugar cookies

Then and now, the secret to cutting our cookies was to chill the dough before using. A cold dough is a less sticky dough and one that won’t adhere to the kitchen counter or cookie cutters. To this day I use the chilled dough trick.

Another handy, dough-related tip involves waxed paper. So that I don’t have to scrape dough from or liberally flour my rolling pin, I roll out the dough between two sheets of waxed paper. Leaving it between the sheets of paper, I refrigerate the rolled dough until cold, about 30 minutes, and then start cutting.

Fish cookies waiting to be iced

In light of Father’s Day, fish-shaped, lemon sugar cookies seem especially fitting for me to share this week. Unfortunately, the recipe that my father and I had used for our cookies was lost long ago. What follows has been adapted from The Joy of Cooking (Rombauer et al, 1997)’s sugar cookie recipe.

LEMON SUGAR COOKIES
Feel free to use any 2- to 3-inch cookie cutter for your cookies.
Makes 3 1/2 dozen

for the dough:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon skim milk
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon lemon oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 lemon

for the icing:
2 2/3 cups confectioner’s sugar plus more as needed, sifted
Juice of two lemons, strained
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two cookie sheets and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the egg, milk, vanilla, lemon oil and zest. Beat until well-combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Add the flour mixture, mix on low until incorporated and then beat until smooth.

Dough rolled out between sheets of wax paper

Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a large sheet of waxed paper and cover with another sheet of waxed paper. Roll out the dough until 1/4-inch thick. Lay each piece of dough on a tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until cold and slightly firm.

Take one sheet of dough from the refrigerator, remove the top layer of waxed paper and, using cookie cutters, cut out the cookies. Using a spatula, move the cookies from the waxed paper to the greased baking sheets. Collect any leftover dough scraps, form them into a ball, cover the ball with clean waxed paper and then roll out and refrigerate it. Remove the other layer of dough from the refrigerator and repeat the above steps until all the dough has been used.

Bake the cookies until golden in color, 6 to 9 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time; this will ensure even browning. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes. Remove the cookies from the sheets and cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, stir together the confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, corn syrup and vanilla until all the lumps are gone. If the icing appears too loose, add more confectioner’s sugar until the desired consistency is reached. Using a frosting or butter knife, spread the icing over the tops of the cookies. Return them to the wire racks and let the icing harden; this will take several hours. You can store the cookies in layers separated by wax paper and in airtight containers for two weeks or freeze for two months.