2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 c. brown sugar

4 egg yolks. lightly beaten

Zest of 2 lemons

1/4 c. fresh lemon juice

1 t. salt

2 T. chopped fresh thyme

4 c. white flour

With an electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice and beat until smooth.

Sprinkle the salt, thyme, and flour on top. Beat on low speed until the dough comes together and no streaks of flour remain.

Roll out the dough into logs and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 48 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the logs into thick slices and place the slices on the parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are very light golden brown and centers look set. Allow to cool for 4 min. in the pan, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich, p. 154

Yield: 93 cookies

Note: in past years I have put in twice as much crystallized ginger (1 1/2 c.), but this year I only had a small bag of ginger to work from and no time to go to the store for more so I just went with what I had, and it still seems pretty darn gingery. I added a little bit of powered ginger to the sugar that the cookies were rolled in so that perhaps helped, but I don't know how much that really added to anything. Bottom line: it's totally fine with less crystalized ginger, but if I had more I would probably add it because the gingery the better, as far as I'm concerned!