Iced Lemon Curd Linzer Cookies
Lemon linzer cookies made with buttery lemon shortbread, filled with lemon curd, and dipped in sweet lemon icing.
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Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
- Rolling Pin
- 2 1/2 Inch Round Fluted Cookie Cutter
- 1 Inch Cookie Cutter
- Baking Sheets + Parchment Paper
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling out the dough), fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- fresh zest of 1 small lemon
- 10 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
- ½ tsp lemon extract
- 3 tbsp cold whole milk
Filling
- ½ cup lemon curd
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp meringue powder
- 2 ½ - 3 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Cookies
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, salt and lemon zest to combine. With the processor running, drop the butter down the chute, 1 tablespoon at a time, then process until the butter is evenly distributed and there are no visible chunks of butter.
- Add the lemon extract and the milk, and process the dough until it comes together into a ball. Dump the dough out onto a clean counter, and knead in any stray floury bits. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough out to an even thickness of between 1/4-1/8 inch thick. Cut as many cookies as you can with your 2 1/2 inch fluted cutter, and place the cut cookies on the baking sheets, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. Gather up the scraps, roll the dough out again, and continue cutting as many cookies as you can.Use the 1 inch cutter to cut out the centers of half the cookies. You should be able to cut about 30 cookies (15 bottoms and 15 tops).
- Place the pans in the refrigerator and chill for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake one pan of cookies at a time (keeping the other pan refrigerated until needed) for about 10 minutes, If you carefully turn one of the cookies over, it should be pale golden brown underneath, with no appearance of raw or wet dough.Note: While these cookies do not spread, they can sometimes puff or bubble up in places on top of the cookies, simply from the water in the butter evaporating and creating pockets of steam. Simply use the flat bottom of a spatula to gently press the cookies flat again while they're hot.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling and icing.
Filling
- Take the bottom cookies (without the holes in the middle), and turn them over so the bottoms are facing up.
- Use a small offset icing spatula to spread about 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon curd onto each cookie, stopping 1/8 inch from the edge.
- Place the top cookies on the lemon curd to make a sandwich.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Stir in the lemon juice. The icing should be opaque but easily drizzle off a spoon.
- Take the sandwich cookies, and carefully dip the top cookie into the icing. When you do this, you need to be careful not to dip it too heavily, or the icing will get onto the filling in the middle, and will run down the sides of the cookie. Just lightly dip it so that the top of the cookie is barely submerged in the icing and shake off the excess icing. While you have the cookie upside down, you may need to use a toothpick to pop the "bubble" of icing stretching across the center hole.
- Turn the cookie right side up and set it down to dry. If there are any small bubbles in the icing, use a toothpick to pop them so that the icing is nice and smooth.The icing will dry to the touch in about 15 minutes, but will stay soft underneath the surface for several hours. My recommendation is to let the cookies dry on a baking sheet for about 4 hours. Then, store them in a single layer in a large tupperware container for 12-24 hours, to let the icing fully cure (and to allow the lemon curd to soften the cookies). Once the icing is cured, the cookies will be perfectly soft (but not too soft), and can be stacked without ruining the icing.
Storing
- Store the cured cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The cookies can also be frozen for up to 3-6 months.
- If you're stacking the cookies, separate each layer of cookies with a sheet of wax paper.
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