Berry Lemonade Cookies

Lemon Curd: ^[1]

1. In a heatproof bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar.
2. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water’s surface. Keep whisking until yolks lighten (1–3 minutes), then add lemon juice and zest.
3. Continue whisking for 8–10 minutes until mixture has thickened a little.
4. Add salt, then add butter one piece at a time, mixing until fully incorporated. Mix in a splash of cream.
5. Strain curd into another bowl. Immediately press cling film directly onto surface. Let cool to room temperature, then transfer to fridge to chill completely.

Cookie Dough:

1. Using a spice grinder, food processor, or mortar & pestle, grind the freeze-dried raspberries into powder.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix butter and cream cheese on low until fully combined. You want to remove all lumps of cream cheese, but without creaming this mixture, as that will add too much air.
   NOTE: Molly said the dough “should stay ‘wet’ looking and un-fluffy. It kinda looks like hummus to me.” We concur!
4. Add sugar, salt, vanilla, and almond extract. Mix just until incorporated.
5. Add egg yolk and mix just until incorporated.
6. Add flour mixture and raspberry powder to wet ingredients; mix again on low just until incorporated.
7. Knead dough with your hands a few times to ensure that flour is fully incorporated.
8. Divide dough into two. Wrap dough balls individually in cling film, then press into patty shapes. Place wrapped dough in fridge to chill for roughly 20 minutes. The dough should be cool, rested, and firm, but not completely hard.
   NOTE: If you’re making this dough somewhere particularly hot and/or humid, your dough may need to chill for more time. In Atlanta, we have to chill the dough for longer in the summer than in the spring!
9. Once dough has chilled, cut 2 pieces of wax paper that are slightly longer than your baking sheet. Place one on your work surface.
10. Unwrap one dough patty and place on wax paper. Set other piece of wax paper on top. With your rolling pin, roll out dough to ¼" thick.
    NOTE: Do NOT flour your dough before rolling! It’s already perfect.
11. Repeat with other dough patty.
12. Slide one dough/wax paper sandwich onto baking sheet. Then gently place second dough/wax paper sandwich on top. Place in freezer for at least 15 minutes.
13. When you’re ready to bake your cookies, heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
14. Remove dough sheets from freezer and peel off top layers of wax paper. Cut cookies directly from frozen dough.
15. Transfer shapes to room temperature or cold baking sheets lined with parchment.
    NOTE: If the dough became soft while you were cutting out shapes, place in freezer (baking sheets and all) for 10–15 minutes before baking.
16. Bake cookies for 8–12 minutes. The cream cheese causes the cookies to not brown very much, so keep a close look-out for slight browning at the bottom edges where the cookies touch the parchment.
17. After you remove cookies from the oven, gently tap down the thumbprints if they puffed up at all during baking. We recommend using the backside of a chopstick or another small, blunt tool.
18. Transfer cookies to wire rack and allow to cool completely.
19. Once your cookies are totally cool, pipe or spoon cooled lemon curd into thumbprints. Store these scrumptious cookies in the fridge.