Egg Yolk Cookies*

A cookie recipe to use the egg yolks left behind 

after making meringue type recipes...

Because of the dark-colored egg YOLKS, the dough 

for these cookies IS much more yellow than most 

cookie dough, BUT,... the night lighting 

in my room made these baked cookies 

look a 'little' more "yellowish/orangeish" than they really are.

Below:   Yesterday, I was making up a double recipe of egg-white-rich Royal Icing for the assembling of gingerbread houses which will be decorated with 'seasonal candy'.  I wasn't excited about the thought of dumping the yolks.  So,... the recipe below was one option for using the yolks.  

The yolks you see below are SO 'orange-ish' because these eggs came from our free-range chickens-- their diet of grasses, seeds and insects makes for beautiful yolks like these...

  

And,................. cookies like these!

INGREDIENTS: 

   This is a "RICH" kind of cookie!

• 1 cup butter (OR, use shortening for cookies that won't spread quite as much).
• 1 and 1/2 cups white granulated sugar.
• 6-7 egg yolks (or 3 whole large eggs).
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract.
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour.
• 1 teaspoon baking soda.
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy (I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for this  and let it "cream/fluff" for a minimum of 4 minutes).
2. Separately, beat egg yolks and the three extracts.
3. Add beaten egg yolk mixture to creamed butter and sugar.  Blend well.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and cream of tartar).
5. Add dry ingredients to creamed butter, sugar and egg mixture.  Mix until well blended.
6. Form into balls, about the size of a walnut. (Dough is soft/sticky.)
7. Roll balls in sugar, place on greased cookie sheet OR parchment lined cookie sheet, and slightly flatten.  (I prefer to use parchment paper on cookie sheets.)
8. I had the best results with baking these at 400-degrees for 8-9 minutes, depending on desired softness/crispness.  (Since ovens can vary quite a bit, check the first sheetful to see how YOUR oven is treating these cookies-- maybe, you'll do better with an oven temperature of just 350-degrees like the original recipe suggested.)

 I like the flavor of the three different 
extracts in these cookies!

*There are quite a few recipes on the Internet for these, or something very similar.   This recipe adapted from Hungry Hintons  at:  http://hungryhintons.blogspot.com/2010/03/egg-yolk-cookies.html  (Thank you, Hintons!)