Lemon Crème Brûlée Cookies

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium-low heat just until it’s steaming. Then, turn heat down to low until ready to use.

To a large bowl add the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, salt, vanilla and cornstarch and whisk until combined and a pale-yellow color. (It will be thick at first but will get smooth as you whisk.)

Add in ¼ of the heated milk while stirring vigorously. Then, add the rest in and stir to combine.

Transfer the mixture to the saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat and cook for 8-12 minutes, whisking continuously, until the mixture is thick and soft peaks form. (It could take longer depending on your stovetop and kind of saucepan you are using.)

Remove the pastry cream from the heat and transfer it to a bowl. Add in the butter and mix to combine. Place plastic wrap right on top of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill it in the fridge until completely cold.

Add the sugar and lemon zest to a bowl and combine. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then set aside.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and granulated sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy, about two minutes.(You can also use a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.)

Add in the egg, vanilla and lemon zest and mix on medium speed until pale in color and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed just until the dough pulls together.

Scoop the dough into balls with a large cookie scoop. Roll into balls. Then, roll each cookie dough ball in the lemon sugar.

Place the dough on to parchment-lined cookie sheets and slightly flatten each ball. (Bake 6 cookies at a time.)

Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, then let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the baked cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.(When the cookies are straight out of the oven, scoot a circular cookie cutter around them to give them a perfect circular shape.)

Transfer the pastry cream to a piping bag fit with a small circular tip. Once the cookies are cooled, pipe pastry cream on top of each cookie.

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of sugar over each and use a kitchen torch to brûlée the sugar until it is golden brown and smells like roasted marshmallows. Yum!

Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes after torching, then enjoy! (Add the pastry cream on top only when you're ready to serve the cookies. The cookies do get soggy after a few hour so you'll want to enjoy them right away.)