Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies

I absolutely LOVE the invigorating taste and smell of grapefruit - it's my favorite hand soap or shower gel scent, and it's great to eat, especially paired with something sweet. So I really felt lucky when I happened upon this recipe on Martha Stewart's website. You hear of plenty of cookies made with lemon, orange and even lime. But I'd never had a grapefruit cookie, and that made it a must-try.

There's grapefruit zest and juice in the cookies, and more juice in the super pretty peachy-pink filling. Oh, and plenty of butter and sugar to balance it all out. After zesting it, just juice the whole fruit, and after making the filling drink whatever is leftover with your first cookie - WOWZER! I love the step that has you toss the fresh zest with sugar before adding to the dough - I think it helps distribute the zest and grapefruit flavor more thoroughly throughout the dough.

But while I've said before that Martha doesn't make mistakes, and I hold that that is almost always true, I've had to fix a few details in her recipe, like cutting the cooking time in half, and totally revamping the proportions in the filling. So here's my tried and true version for a truly unique winter citrus goody plate treat.

Cookies:

Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 large egg yolks

Filling:

2 T unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

2 to 3 T freshly squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice

1. Zest and juice the grapefruit. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 T sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. In an electric mixer bowl, beat butter and remaining sugar on med-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.

3. Turn out half the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic. Repeat with the remaining dough. Refrigerate disks until firm, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out 2-inch rounds and place on prepared sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through if cooking unevenly. Allow to cool 2 minutes on baking sheet before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

5. Place butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl and mix slightly. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons grapefruit juice and continue to beat until frosting is formed. Add slightly more butter, sugar or juice to taste and to desired consistency, beating well. Don't let it get too soft or runny. Spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat side of cookie; top with another cookie, flat side down. Once filled, cookies can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Makes 2 dozen sandwiches