Here is a site that may be what you are looking for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Macaron recipe and photo

Oops, sorry about the first post....here is the lemon one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lemon macaron recipe

Thanks, marigene, for the recipe. It looks wonderful, but it's not the cookie I'm looking for.

Darwin's has icing spread on top of the cookie. It's not a lemon curd. And it's actually the frosting that I can't seem to find or duplicate more than the cookie itself. Something about how it hardens like chocolate on an Eskimo bar on the top, but breaks open to creamy frosting underneath.

Interesting, though, that the cookie you found is spelled "macaron" rather than "macaroon." I'm guessing that this indicates a completely different type cookie from the coconut based one. The name makes more sense to me now.

amck--I gained a few pounds at Darwins!--my son used to have a recurring dr.'s appt nearby--but unfortunately, I never had the lemon cookies!

I googled around a bit and from two reviews it looks like the cookies come from the Lakota Bakery, which I did not know.

and then I found this on chowhound "Lakota's cookies are made in Arlington and they have a retail store at their bakery, it is in Arlington Heights on Mass. Ave"

I doubt they'd give out a recipe--but you might try the "I have an allergy" ploy to at least get a list of ingredients from the bakery. :-)

hmm...my SIL lives in Arlington, I think I might need to go research these cookies...my kids are lemon fiends who must have lemon poundcake as their birthday cakes.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Lakota Bakery

Nancy,

Thanks for your detective work! I guessed they might not be baked on-site, as it's a relatively small place, but I didn't think about them being sourced from another bakery.

Please try the cookies if you get a chance. I've never tasted anything like them. It's not just the taste, it's the whole texture thing with that icing...

My DS did his undergrad at a nearby college, and whenever he comes back East to visit friends and family, his first stop is Darwin's, then Burdick's for their hot chocolate mix. He's traveled quite a bit and claims he's never found better sandwiches than Darwin's. I'm sure the sentimental attachments have something to do with how good they taste, too. As a struggling college kid, it was a real treat to get lunch there!

We are also a family of lemon lovers - the tarter, the better! These cookies aren'r really tart, though - they are just heaven with a cup of tea!

Those ones above look more like meringes.

amck, are the ones you are describing a soft cookie with coconut in them, or a coconut macaroon (pokey) like?

Here's a recipe for a Lemon Coconut Crisp. They look like what in my mind you are describing.

However we'd have to work on the frosting too. Is it a think glaze, drizzled or a schmear of frosting?

A macaroon is light, but it is supposed to have a bit of crunchy exterior, and a chewy interior due to the almond flour.
And they're often filled with either a curd or buttercream. or a combination of both.

I'm guessing the one you described might've had a simple confectioner's glaze. Most glazes will form a crust. And in the case of a macaroon, it'll give easily, into heavenly chewiness, when you bite into one.

I'd better quit talking about it; my Pavlovian description is gonna make me drool.

Sol

What was a mild craving for me yesterday is now turning to an obsession the more I think and read about these cookies!

terri-pacnw, your cookie recipe looks light and luscious, but mine(well, Darwin's....)have no detectable coconut in them.

solsthumper - I think we're getting closer with the mention of almond flour. I think there's an slight almond taste in the cookie.

The glaze, or frosting, is thicker and creamier than a typical confectioner's glaze. When you mentioned the glaze forming a crust, my mind went back to my Mom's homemade cupcakes that I always loved best the day after they were baked because of that crust on top of the buttercream icing.

These cookies are as thickly frosted as a cupcake would be, as compared to a glaze on, say, a Snickerdoodle.

I will continue to think on this one....

Thanks for the responses so far!

Nancy -

I looked on the Lakota Bakery site and found a picture of the cookies. If you click on "types of cookies" there is a photo of baker's racks. The Lemon Macaroon is in the middle section rack, and it's the 5th one down. I had forgotten about the squiggle of white on top (which I bet is white chocolate.)

Well, if I can't eat them or bake them, at least for now I can look at them!

Maybe someone will recognize them as being a family recipe cookie that goes by another name..

okay, you say a cross between a cake and a shortbread. That would leave out what I think of as a macaroon or even anything with egg whites.
I just recently came across a lemon cookie..that looked amazing..and I swore I saved it..but it's not in my bookmarks on the computer...which leaves me to believe it might be ripped out from a magazine..I'll keep looking.

I think what you are looking at a something along the lines of an Amaretti (Italian Macaroon) if you go to all recipes there are a few recipes. Only thing I am not certain of is the consistency of the almonds versus what you are describing. Italian Macaroons don't contain Coconut because their meaning of macaroon is "bitter thing" or something like that.
Maybe some italian bakers out here can find a recipe for you.

Heidi

Found this recipe, getting closer...Now we just need a lemon-y frosting.
Heidi

Here is a link that might be useful: Amaretti Cookie

Macaroons are normally egg whites, sugar and almonds or coconut. Sometimes something else replaces the almonds or coconut. I think the almond ones came first because the Italians didn't have coconut when they started making them. Classic Home Desserts has a margin note with a macaroon recipe that Jefferson used in the White House. Coconut is a later American innovation. Usually the almonds are finely ground.

I love the almond macaroons which generally have a lovely chewy texture. I'm not so crazy about coconut macaroons.

Baking in America has a glaze for a cookie that might be about right.

1 large egg white
2 cups confectioners sugar
2-3 tsp lemon juice.

Beat the egg white until foamy.
Beat in the sugar and 2 tsp lemon juice.
If it is too stiff add more lemon juice.

I think the beaten egg white will make it thicker than the usual glaze with water.

Thanks, cloud swift! I've never done a glaze with a beaten egg white. I thought the icing might contain butter because it's so creamy in texture, but I'll give this a try.

I've had a "doh!" moment.

My grandma's Italian Cookies are lemon flavored with lemon frosting. The cookies are much more cakey than you are describing, but the frosting is similar to what you've described--it gets hard on the surface but is creamy underneath.

funny thing is, I have no amounts for the frosting ingredients, so I wing it every year (I make them at Christmas).

I blend a T or two of soft butter with cups and cups of powdered sugar and give it a dash of lemon extract for flavor. Then stir in a few T of milk to get it to spreading consitency. Not quite to glaze thiness, but I dip the tops and you want it thin enough to smooth itself without dripping off the cookie(told you I wing it!)

I wonder if it would be a brighter lemon flavor with fresh juice--or if that would sour the milk?

I need to experiment more...I really need to take a trip to Arlington this weekend...LOL

btw, heres a pic of my Christmas cookies and the Italian Cookies are the pink and green frosted ones, so you can see how it is smooth.

Wow! Your cookie tins are amazing. I bet the friends and family who receive them begin thinking about them as soon as the leaves start turning.

Your glaze recipe sounds close, but appears to be a little more translucent than Lakota's. Maybe their's has more butter.... When I looked on their website they said the amount of butter and chocolate is what sets their recipes apart. I'm wondering if there isn't some white chocolate melted into that icing, too. Hmmmm..

Hope you get a chance to try them so someone else will have a frame of reference. I haven't had them in over a year, so my recollection may be somewhat fuzzy.

Now I am craving all the cookies in your tin. I'm trying to limit desserts to weekends only and that only seems to make them harder to resist!

I am reading old posts and so I'm not sure if this will get to you.

I have a sugar cookie glaze recipe that calls for milk, confectioner's sugar and a small amount of corn syrup. The corn syrup is what makes the frosting form a "skin" of glaze over the top of the frosting.

Here is a link to where I found the recipe. They spread it on very thin but perhaps you could make it a little thicker and it would be what you want. --Ilene

Here is a link that might be useful: Allrecipes.com Sugar Cookie Glaze

How did I miss any discussion on Lakota's? I stayed at a friend's house in Arlington that was walking distance to Lakota's. OMG. The best cookie bakery EVER. EVER. All they make are cookies and cookie bars. Yes, they are worthy of obsession. They are generally shortbread in nature and a few of them are dipped. An amazing amount of flavors. And when I was there, last September, the cookies were $1 each (cookie bars a little more). Twenty bucks worth did not survive the plane ride home (between two of us).