Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Line a second baking sheet, or a large plate, with baking parchment. Set both aside until ready to use.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg.

Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla bean paste, and lemon oil.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.

Remove 1/3 of the dough. Flatten into a disc, wrap in clingfilm, and transfer to the refrigerator to chill.

Add yellow gel food coloring to the remaining dough, continuing to add 1-2 drops at a time until desired shade is reached. If the mixture seems sticky, add the reserved tablespoon of flour to the dough.

Flatten yellow dough into a disc, wrap in clingfilm, and transfer to the refrigerator to chill.

Chill both discs for at least one hour.

Once doughs have chilled, remove the white dough from the refrigerator. Remove the clingfilm and place disc between two sheets of parchment. Roll dough to 1/4″ thickness.* Return to the fridge to continue chilling while you roll the yellow dough.

Remove 1/4 of the yellow dough. Re-wrap the rest in clingfilm and return it to the fridge.

Roll the quarter of yellow dough between parchment to 1/4″ thickness. Return to the fridge to chill, at least 15 minutes. (To speed up the process, you can pop the rolled dough in the freezer for 5 minutes instead.)

Once chilled, remove white dough from the refrigerator. Use flower cutter to cut the dough into flowers. Transfer to prepared parchment-lined plate, and place plate in the fridge to chill.

Re-roll the scraps of white dough between fresh sheets of parchment, and cut additional flower pieces. Continue this process until you have used all of the white dough, chilling periodically if the dough becomes too soft.**

While white flowers continue to chill, remove the rolled portion of yellow dough from the refrigerator and cut discs with the smaller cutter. These will be the centers of your daisies. You’ll need the same number of yellow circles as you have flowers (I had 25). Return any leftover yellow dough to the refrigerator.

Add yellow discs to the parchment-lined plate and chill 10 minutes more.

Once all pieces have chilled (they should be cold and firm, and should not bend when you pick them up) you are ready to assemble your flowers.

Remove plate from the refrigerator. Use the smaller cutter to cut a circle in the middle of each flower, then place a yellow disc in the center of each flower.

Next, stack the assembled flowers on top of each other, making sure the petals line up. Press down gently on the top of the stack. (You want to press firmly enough to make sure the pieces adhere to one another, but not so firmly that you squish them or cause them to lose their shape.)

Wrap your flower stack in clingfilm or parchment (or place on parchment-lined tray) and freeze for at least 15 minutes, or until very cold and solid. While flower stack chills, remove all remaining yellow dough from the refrigerator and allow it to soften slightly.

Remove flower stack from the freezer. Pack yellow dough around the stack, making sure you fit it into all of the open spaces. Use a chopstick*** to push the yellow dough into all cracks and crevasses. (If you don’t do this carefully, there may be small gaps or holes in your finished cookies).

Continue packing yellow dough around the log until all dough has been used and all white has been hidden, aside from the two ends of the log.

Roll gently to smooth the yellow dough, lengthening slightly in the process. The smooth, finished log should be approximately 6 inches (15 centimeters) in length.

Once white dough is completely covered and log is smooth, roll the log in Demerara to coat.

Wrap log in clingfilm and freeze for at least one hour, or overnight.

When ready to slice, remove log from the freezer and unwrap. Place on a cutting board. Trim the ends and discard.

Using a sharp knife, slice into 1/4″ thick pieces. Once finished, you should have 16 – 18 cookies.

If you notice small cracks or gaps in the dough (there will probably be a few!) simply use your fingertips to gently smooth these over; this will make for a prettier finished product.

Stack cookies between small squares of parchment and freeze for 15 minutes. (Alternately, if you have a large freezer you can place your cookies directly on your silpat-lined baking sheet, allowing a few inches of space in between each cookie, and place the tray in the freezer. When it comes time to bake, simply transfer the tray directly to the oven.) Do not skip this freezing step, as it will prevent the cookies from spreading as they bake.

Place sliced chilled cookies on silpat-lined tray, allowing a few inches between each.

Bake for 12 – 14 minutes. Cookies should look matte and not glossy or doughy, but should not be starting to brown.

Immediately after removing tray from the oven, use a round cookie cutter to gently reshape the hot cookies. (This is entirely optional, but will make your finished cookies rounder and more uniform in appearance.)

Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking tray, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Store lemon daisy cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. Baked cookies are also suitable for freezing.