Crunch On You Sugary Diamond: Crystal Diamonds

I've had King Arthur Flour's recipe for Crystal Diamonds on my to-bake list for a while; I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this unusual recipe that includes yeast (and yet yields a completely flat cookie). Even though you need to plan ahead to allow time for chilling, the recipe is easy: mix flour, yeast, milk, lemon oil, and salt until combined; slowly incorporate butter; mix until the dough is shiny and smooth; and chill.

You roll the chilled dough as thinly as possible on a surface covered in coarse sugar, sprinkling the top of the dough with sugar as well so that the dough is fully encrusted on both sides. You cut the dough into diamonds, transfer them to a parchment-lined sheet, and bake at low temperature (275 degrees) for about an hour.

The cookies shrank slightly during baking and turned golden brown, with the sugar around the edges melting to form a lacy fringe. They didn't look great. Because I had cut the diamond shapes freehand, the cookies were not uniform to begin with. But they were also so thin that it was difficult to move them to the baking sheet without stretching them, so they had irregular borders. 

Nonetheless, these cookies were profoundly delicious. They were crisp, sweet, and had a deep caramelized sugar flavor far beyond what I would have ever expected. The taste and texture reminded me a lot of a palmier, which is high praise. The only problem is that the small size of these cookies pose a special hazard; it is difficult to resist the urge to eat handfuls of them at a time. I'm craving one now just thinking about it!

Recipe: "Crystal Diamonds" from King Arthur Flour.