Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr (includes cooling)
Ingredients
Makes 6 to 7 dozen cookies
For cookies
For lemon curd
Prepare cookie dough:
Step 1
Follow recipe for basic butter cookies, forming dough into 2 balls (instead of a log) and flattening each into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
Make lemon curd:
Step 2
Simmer lemon juice, zest, sugar, butter, cornstarch, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Lightly beat yolks in a small bowl, then add 1/4 cup lemon mixture, whisking. Add yolk mixture to remaining lemon mixture, then reduce heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, then cover surface with plastic wrap and chill while rolling out dough.
Roll out dough:
Step 3
While oven preheats, roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining dough chilled) into a 9-inch round (slightly less than 1/4 inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, chill on a baking sheet until firm.) Cut out as many cookies as possible with cutter.
Step 4
Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Dredge warm cookies in confectioners sugar until coated and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Make more cookies in same manner.
Step 5
Transfer lemon curd to pastry bag or plastic bag (snip an 1/8-inch opening in a corner of plastic bag). Put 1 cookie upside down on work surface and pipe about 1/2 teaspoon lemon curd onto cookie, then top with another cookie, right side up, to form a sandwich. Make more sandwiches in same manner.
Step 6
Just before serving, sift some remaining confectioners sugar over tops of sandwiched cookies.
• Cookies (baked and coated with confectioners sugar but not filled with lemon curd) keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week. • Lemon curd (before filling cookies) can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. • Sandwiched cookies (without additional confectioners sugar) keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment in an airtight container, chilled, 4 days.
Leave a Review
Reviews (54)
Back to TopThese were good, but they need to be truly bite-sized. I made mine with a shot glass as a cookie cutter and you needed to bite in to them which makes the powder sugar go everywhere and the lemon curd squish out. I'm not sure if this butter cookie recipe is my favorite either. They turned out pretty hard; I would prefer a little bit of a more soft/crumbly texture for these cookies.
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
12/26/2014
These were absolutely delicious and I will make them again. But, I'm so annoyed that I have at least twice as much curd left over. I was pretty careful to not overfill to avoid "squish out," but really...twice as much? It's amazingly good but what am I supposed to do with it?
nylvod
NJ
12/29/2013
Did I miss something? the curd turned out great, but the dough was AWFUL. i ended up throwing out the cookies and then just using a sugar cookie recipe i had and that worked fine. really, this is a terrible butter cookie recipe.
hilten703
2/14/2013
Really great and light, a lovely cookie. I ran out of time and made a few curds/pastry creams and had everyone dip the thin buttery cookies instead of sandwiching them. It was great! Highly Recommended!
kailb05
8/28/2012
A delicious cookie. Rave reviews from my guests. Tastes like lemon tart but in easy to eat cookie form. I was worried that the butter cookie would be too hard but once you pipe the lemon curd on and let them sit for a few hours, the cookies soften just enough so that when you bite into them the lemon filling doesn't squish out. Yum.
Anonymous
London, Ontario
4/3/2011
哦,这些都是伟大而被吞噬。疯了e them as a trio with pistacio orange lace cookies and 3 ginger cookies. This sophisticated dessert was perfect with ice cream and alone afterward. Full recipes were devoured by 8 people in 2 days!
Anonymous
s. jersey
11/25/2010
Absolutely excellent. Like other reviewers I created logs of dough, chilled them, and cut them to make circles. Much easier, and they still look perfectly circular as long as you are careful to make a perfect log before freezing/refrigerating. I made my cookies the day before and filled them, and I had no problems with my cookies being too mushy or too hard. People could not stop popping them in their mouths! Consider making these alongside rich desserts- these will seem so light!
vlmelro
7/6/2010
i make these every year for christmas cookies and people always request them. i make them very, very small so they are extra petite but always have some lemon curd left over. i think these are just wonderful little cookies.
theantediluvian
san francisco, ca
1/21/2010
I love this curd! I made it with lime instead of lemon. The butter cookies with the curd are good too. A little messy, because I put too much curd between the cookies.
lissawolfe
Brooklyn, NY
1/6/2010
No one in the family was very fond of this recipe. I ended up throwing out about 1/2 dozen of them.
MissEileen
9/17/2009
I loved this recipe! They came out great. Not only did I fill them with lemon curd, but on some I used jam and others nutella (hazelnut chocolate spread). You can even use a store bought lemon curd to cut down on the time. But this lemon curd recipe is very delicious. I used a small fluted shot glass as my cookie cutter. It was just the right size. For those who complain about the cookies getting soggy, please read the recipe notes at the bottom. They tell you that you can store the cookies dusted in powdered sugar BUT not with the curd. So make the cookies ahead of time and spread the curd on day you plan to serve. I had no problems with this recipe and would definitely make it again.
jbjb003
Brooklyn, NY
12/28/2008
Wow, these are amazing! I have a party this weekend, so I did a test run on them tonight to make sure that they would be good. I added 1TBS zest to the cookies. I made half rolled out and cut out half. It is easier to cut them, but they are obviously better looking cut out (more uniformly round). I made them very small (about an inch) and baked at 390 for 5 min (allowing them to cool on the cookie sheet). I added the 20 degrees because I am at high altitude. I also sifted the powdered sugar over the tops only. I cant wait to show off my beautiful little cookies this weekend!
tishaslyon
denver
8/7/2008
This cookie is too much of a pain for what you get out of it. Plus, though it photographs very nicely, the powder sugar blows all over the place. The cookies also get soggy after a half a day from the curd. HOWEVER, this is the BEST curd recipe I've found. Though most the cookies got trashed, I used the curd for mousse AND a double layer lemon cake and still had some left over. This is now my staple curd recipe...I won't make these little nuisances again though.
lacymilonas
Seattle
8/6/2008
Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and used unbaked store bought sugar cookie dough. The cookies were fine until I put the lemon curd on the cookies. Within three hours they were soggy (but still edible by some standards!). It sounds like taking the time to actually make cookies from scratch is well worth it. Additionally, I used lime, instead of lemon, and loved it!
Anonymous
Seattle, Wa
6/24/2008
these cookies are good but yes the key is to make them small. first off, the recipe for the butter cookies... well my dough was a bit crumbly making it hard to roll out and stamp out circles without it splitting apart or cracking. any solutions? the way they tasted was just fine. the lemon curd i thought was good. just the right about of sweetness and tartness. putting them together? not a problem.. eating them. large problem. maybe they should really be bite size because any bitter causes you to bite it in half leading to the curd oozing out everywhere. so good recipe, just make them bite size for like a child.
kat302
5/17/2008
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