Join our Cookie Club! Every week this summer, we will post a different cookie recipe, plus we are baking all these delicious treats. Please drop by Kitchen Conservatory to try our favorite cookies!

The store manager, Hilda Willman, shares the recipe for her mother’s signature cookie, which her family has baked every year since the 1940s. Hilda still bakes from the original recipe, written in her mother’s handwriting. We so cherish our family recipes, especially those in the handwriting and style of deceased loved ones. These special family recipes keep alive the tastes and memories of happy family times. Handwritten family recipes can be a more important bequest than the family silver — because the recipes are used more often.

Are there really hard-cooked egg yolks in a cookie? Yes, this old-fashioned style of butter cookie has a delectable texture because of the hard-boiled egg yolks. The cooked yolks must be either passed through a sieve or thoroughly blended in a food processor so that the cookie has no lumps. And yes, the flour should be sifted for a delicate cookie.

Royal Crowns

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup sifted flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• candied cherries or other fruit, optional

Place the eggs in a saucepan covered with water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool, remove the shell, and discard the egg white. Force the egg yolk through a coarse sieve.

In a mixer or food processor, blend together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the almond extract. Add the hard-boiled egg yolks. Fold in the flour and salt. Using a cookie press fitted with a crown design, press the cookies onto a lined cookie sheet. If desired, decorate the edges of the cookie with tiny pieces of candied cherries or other fruit. Bake at 350 degrees until the cookies are set and beginning to brown around the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.

Hilda Willman, who is attending the Baking and Pastry program at Forest Park Community College, adores all desserts. She is teaching the cooking class “Girls’ Night Out: Pink Flamingos” on July 9, which includes a dessert of caramelized cherry mousse. Register Now.