Cream lard and sugar until light and fluffy; add egg yolks and blend in.
Add lemon extract and juice and then blend in the flour, mixing well.
Roll dough out on floured board to about 1/2" thickness. Cut with cookie cutter into quarter moon shapes.
Bake on ungreased pan at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.
Optional Toppings
Prior to baking, tops of cookies can be brushed with egg whites (unbeaten) and sprinkled with chopped nuts.
For a more decorative cookie, beat until stiff 2 egg whites to which 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cornstarch have been added. Beat until very stiff, put meringue into pastry bag and with a rosette ti, pipe meringue across center of cookie. Bake as directed.
Apple Pita / Serbian-Croatian Apple Pie (Pita savijača sa jabukama)
Ingredients
1cupshortening
½cupmilk or shot of whisky & lemon juice
¼lbbutter
3-4apples
2 ¼cupsugar
¼cuptapioca or cream of wheat
7egg whites
1cupfinely chopped nuts
3cupsflour
Instructions
Mix and cream 1 cup shortening, ¼ lb butter and ½ cup sugar. Add 3 egg yolks, mix. Add 3 cups of flour and ½ cup of milk (it is better to use instead of milk, a shot of whisky and lemon juice). Mix and knead the dough lightly by hand, the roll out of a floured board.
Peel and cut 3 to 4 apples. Prepare mixture of ¼ cup of tapioca and or cream of wheat and ¾ cup sugar and cinnamon- making 1 cup. Put part of dough in the pan, fill it with the apples and the mixture and make a cover with the rest of the dough.
Beat until thick, 4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar and stir in a cup of finely chopped nuts. Put meringue on top of the Apple Pita. Bake at 400° for 45-60 minutes.
