Christina Tosi’s Citrus Cookies

This recipe is from Milk Bar Life: Recipes and Stories by Christina Tosi (Clarkson Potter), the pastry chef-owner of Momofuku Milk Bar. Try making the recipe at home and let us know what you think!

Photograph by Gabriele Stabile and Mark Ibold

By Christina Tosi

Citrus Cookies
Makes 1 1?2 dozen cookies

That’s a whole lotta citrus in this here recipe. If you want to make a citrus cookie that tastes like you climbed up a tree and plucked a cookie off the branch, that’s what it takes.

? pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar

1 large egg
10 lemons, zested
4 limes, zested
2 oranges, zested

2 ? cups all-purpose flour
1 ? teaspoons kosher salt
? teaspoon baking powder
? teaspoon baking soda

Lemon Granola (optional; see below)

NOTE: Use a Microplane or the smallest holes of a box grater to zest citrus. Use steady, even force, rotating the fruit as you zest and being careful to remove only the outermost colored layer, not any of the bitter white pith.

Heat the oven to 375°F.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream on high until homogenous, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and all of the citrus zests and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.

Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, mixing until just combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the granola, if using.

Portion 2 ¾-ounce scoops of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 9 to 10 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool completely on the pan.

Lemon Granola
Makes 1 cup

Add lemon granola to the mix for a chewier take, and the cookie becomes a lemon-treehugger cookie. When you hear that a cookie has granola in it, somehow you feel like you’re making a “healthier” choice, right? Use Meyer lemons, a fragrant lemon hybrid more common in California than Brooklyn, if you can get your hands on them.

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
? teaspoon kosher salt
3 lemons, 3 zested, 1 juiced
1/3 cup honey or agave nectar
3 tablespoons grapeseed or other neutral oil, plus more for the pan

Heat the oven to 250°F.

Toss together the oats and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk the zest, lemon juice, honey, and oil together in a small bowl. Add to the oats and toss until well coated.

Spread the mixture evenly on a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake the granola for 25 to 30 minutes, breaking up clumps and tossing every 10 minutes, until caramelized. Let cool completely, by which point the granola should have become crunchy (it will still seem wet and mushy when warm). Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Reprinted with permission from Milk Bar Life: Recipes and Stories by Christina Tosi (Clarkson Potter).

More Milk Bar cookie recipes:

Fruity-Pebble Meringue Recipe from ‘Milk Bar Life’

Salt-and-Pepper Cookies Recipe from 'Milk Bar Life’

Momofuku’s Compost Cookie Recipe