Half Moon Cookies

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

For the dough: In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, lemon zest, salt, vanilla and baking powder. Beat in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, making sure you mix well after each addition. Carefully mix in flour, alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

Using a large cookie scoop, drop dough onto cookie sheets. Be sure you leave about 2 inches between each cookie on the cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie with a glass that you’ve dipped in flour.

Bake cookies until golden, about 9-11 minutes. Then remove the baking sheets from the oven and set them on a rack. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the icing: Start with the white icing. Microwave the white chocolate in a bowl until smooth. Heat it for 30 seconds at a time, stirring before heating for additional 30 second increments.

Sift powdered sugar into a large bowl. Stir in corn syrup, water and vanilla. Whisk in melted white chocolate until smooth. Add more hot water a teaspoon at a time if chocolate is too thick. Using an offset spatula spread white chocolate over one half of each cookie. Let chocolate set completely.

While white chocolate sets, prepare semi-sweet chocolate icing in the same manner used for the white icing. Spread semi-sweet chocolate on the second half of each cookie and let chocolate set completely.

Note: To make cherry glaze add 2 tablespoons of maraschino cherry juice into the white icing mixture.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.