These cookies replace half the flour with wheat starch, so the dough develops very little gluten. Gluten makes dough elastic and sturdy; starch has the opposite effect, making the cookies crumble into a fine powder as soon as you bite into them. Unlike Syrian-style cookies, they contain no semolina, so they have no grainy texture.
Beat the room-temperature butter with the powdered sugar for 6 minutes, until pale and noticeably increased in volume. Add the egg yolk and lemon zest and beat for 1 minute more. This creamed mixture is the only binder in these cookies.
Sift the starch and flour together twice. Starch clumps easily, and any lumps that are not sifted out will remain as hard white spots after baking. Add the sifted mixture to the creamed butter.
Bring the mixture together with a spatula, then knead by hand for no more than 2 minutes. There is no benefit to kneading this dough for longer because there is no gluten to develop; longer kneading only warms the butter and makes the dough greasy. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Pinch off hazelnut-size pieces of chilled dough, roll them gently between your palms, and arrange them spaced apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Do not press firmly or handle the dough too much; the heat from your hands will soften it. If it starts to crumble, return the remaining dough to the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Bake in an oven preheated to 160°C / 320°F for 18 minutes. The lower temperature of 160°C / 320°F instead of the usual 175°C / 345°F dries the cookies from the inside without browning them. Remove them when the tops are still pale and the edges are just barely cream-colored. Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 20 minutes; they will crumble if handled while hot.
Refrigerate the kneaded dough for 30 minutes; this resting time is not included in the recipe time. Starch-based dough is very fragile while warm and will break apart in your hands if shaped before it cools.
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