Lemon Curd Linzers

Lemon Curd Linzers

One of my go-to desserts, lemon curd linzers are so easy to make and always impress everyone I share them with! I think this is because they look exceptionally pretty and delicate, and taste so wonderful and bright! It’s like a bite of sunshine! We start off with super soft and tender shortbread cookies that have a wonderfully set glaze on top. Then, there’s the easy homemade lemon curd in the middle– it’s sooo lemony and rich (thanks to the butter!), it makes for the perfect spring treat! The linzer cookie dough recipe is one of my faves from Sabine from her blog Also the Crumbs Please.

This recipe does have quite a few steps, but we can break those steps down into a couple days and it’ll be much more manageable and actually comes together very easily! If you’re not a huge fan of lemon curd, these cookies are also a great base for ANY filling! You can use your store bought jam, fruit preserve, or even nutella!

lemon curd linzers with glazed tops
lemon curd linzers cookies with glazed tops

What you’ll need

Equipment

Ingredients

  1. Unsalted butter
  2. Powdered sugar
  3. Large egg yolks
  4. Salt
  5. Pur vanilla extract
  6. Lemons
  7. All purpose flour
  8. Almond flour
  9. Granulated sugar

How to make lemon curd linzers

  • Prepare and chill cookie dough: cream powdered sugar and butter together, then add yolks, salt, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat on high until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix on low until a dough forms. Divide in two and wrap very tightly in plastic wrap, forming 2 round and flat discs and chill in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
  • Make the lemon curd: in a small saucepan, rub sugar and zest together. Then whisk in yolks and lemon juice and cook over low heat, whisking constantly until curd has thickened. Whisk in butter and strain. Chill completely before using.
  • Bake the cookies: roll out cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick, cut with 2 to 3inch cookie cutter, cut out middles for half the cookies, and bake at 350F for about 10-11 minutes, until the very outside edges are just starting to catch a bit of golden color. Let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
  • Make the glaze and assemble cookies: whisk together all the glaze ingredients. Dip the top cookies into the glaze and let excess drip off. Let glaze set completely before filling cookies with curd and sandwich and ENJOY!

Other recipes to try:
Caramel Shortbread Cookies
millionaire’s shortbread w sweet maple walnuts
matcha dark chocolate linzers

Lemon Curd Linzers

Lemon Curd Linzers

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Additional Time: 1 day
Total Time: 1 day 1 hour 30 minutes

Tender melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies sandwich a zingy rich lemon curd!

Ingredients

for the cookies

  • 1 c (2 sticks, 227g) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 c (120g) powdered sugar
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tb (30ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 1/2 c (320g) all purpose flour
  • 1 c (100g) almond flour

for lemon curd

  • 1/2 c (100g) granulated sugar
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1/4 c (60ml) lemon juice
  • 4 tb (56g) unsalted butter, cubed, room temp

for the glaze

  • 1 1/2 c (180g) powdered sugar
  • 2 tb lemon juice, milk, OR water
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the linzer cookie dough

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream butter and powdered sugar together for 2 minutes in medium high speed, until completely smooth. Add the egg yolks, salt, vanilla, and fresh lemon juice, and beat for at least a minute on high speed, until well combined.
  2. Add flour and almond flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
  3. Divide dough in half and wrap very tightly in plastic wrap, forming two round discs. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Make the lemon curd

  1. In a small saucepan, add granulated sugar and lemon zest. Rub the zest into the sugar for a minute to release the citrus oils. Add the yolks and lemon juice and whisk well to combine.
  2. Place saucepan over low heat and whisk or stir constantly. Continue cooking until curd is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, this can take up to 10 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. Strain curd through a fine mesh sieve, cover with plastic wrap, and let chill completely and then place in fridge.

Roll and bake cookies

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. On a well floured surface, roll out cookie dough until it's about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2-3 inch cookie cutter of desired shape, cut out as many cookies as possible and place 1 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheet. With a much smaller shape, cut middles out of half of the cookies. Dough scraps can be gently kneaded back together and re-rolled for more cookies. Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the edges are just starting to get a bit golden. Let cool completely and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Assemble cookies

  1. When cookies are completely cooled, prepare the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk all the glaze ingredients together until it's a thick consistency that can still drizzle.
  2. Dip the top cookies (the ones with the middles cut out) in the glaze and let the excess glaze drip off before placing it down to set.
  3. Once all the glazed tops have set, place about 1 1/2 tsp chilled lemon curd in the middle of the "bottom" cookies and sandwich with the "tops".




Summary
recipe image
Recipe Name
Lemon Curd Linzers
Author Name
Published On
Preparation Time
Cook Time
Total Time

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.