Corn Flour Lemon Cookies Baked on a Silpat

This experiment might have had more to do with testing baking equipment than a recipe, but I learned something about both. For years, I had been using a couple of trusty non-stick, air-layered cookie sheets, but they had gotten a little bent and weren’t as non-stick as they used to be. Also, I thought I might be the only person on the planet who hadn’t baked with a silpat. So, when I received a Williams-Sonoma gift card for my birthday, I headed straight to the cookie sheet area of the store. I bought one half sheet pan and a silpat to fit it. I thought I should test this before purchasing more than one. With my batterie de cuisine now expanded, it was time to try a corn flour cookie I had been craving. I was imagining a crunchy cookie that would hold its shape. Instead, the cookies spread while baking and definitely lacked crunch. I was not thrilled with the result of the recipe test, but the silpat worked beautifully. I plan to purchase a few more with pans of the same size. Now, since Kurt had no preconceived notion of what this cookie could or should be, he was very happy with the result. He enjoyed the chewy texture with the lemon flavor and the crunch of the chopped almonds on top. When I peeked in the oven and saw the cookies spreading, I thought I should have chilled them before baking. Since they all fit on one pan, I didn't get to test that theory. Given the fat content in the recipe, that probably wouldn’t have helped much anyway. Also, a little longer baking time would have resulted in a drier cookie, but this wasn’t the right recipe for my particular craving. I’ll just have to try again.