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Lemon Thumbprint Cookies with Lemon Curd Filling

Course Cookies, Desserts
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Total Time 42 minutes
Servings 48 cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened
  • ½ cup egg yolks
  • 1 tbs lemon zest grated
  • 1 tbs lemon juice fresh
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • 2½ cup all-purpose flour
  • cup lemon curd homemade or store-bought

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Line two half-sheet-pan baking sheets with parchment or nonstick liners.
  • Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer until well blended.
  • Beat in yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt.
  • Beat in flour just until moist clumps form. Gather dough together in bowl to bind.
  • Shape scant tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls.
  • Place balls on prepared sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart.
  • Using a floured finger or something that will give a good round shape (I used the back of a small pestle), make a deep indentation in center of each ball.
  • Bake cookies until firm and lightly golden on bottom, about 18 to 20 minutes.
  • Remove cookies from oven and immediately fill indentations with curd.
  • Return to oven and bake 2 minutes longer to set curd.
  • Bake remaining cookies. Lightly dust edges with confectioners’ sugar before serving. Serve. Enjoy!

Notes

Lemon Thumbprint Cookies with Lemon Curd Filling

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jim wanted to devour the entire jar. He couldn’t wait for me to finish making it. It was so good. I could see someone mistaking it for lemon custard and serving it as a dessert. But, I really didn’t want him to eat the entire jar all by himself. I really could see him doing it. This is the guy who eats three pints of homemade ice cream in a week.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Something easy that will highlight the lemon curd. It all came back to me. At the baking party, Ewa and Ana made these great thumbprint cookies with raspberry jam. I had to try making something similar. They were incredible little cookies. I wish I could have gotten the recipe from them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
After some research. I found one that I liked. It didn’t look anything like Ewa’s and Ana’s. But, it looked OK. A simple recipe with a few ingredients. I was ready to make them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I couldn’t wait to try these. Twenty minutes seems so long when it comes to cookie baking. They were worth it. Tender cookies with warm lemon curd. Oh! Yes!
 
 
 
 
 
 
I loved that the cookies were more than just a holder of the sweet filling. They weren’t hard as a rock or dry. They were nice, tender and a little flaky.

Lemon Curd Filling

Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 3 lemons
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • ¼ pound unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
  1. Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.
  2. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.
  3. Cream the butter. Then, beat in the sugar and lemon mixture.
  4. Add the eggs, 1-at-a-time, combining well.
  5. Add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.
  6. Pour the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer.
  7. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.
  8. Serve with cookies, scones, on top of the cake or on ice cream. You can do so many things with this recipe.
  9. Enjoy!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sacramento is the best place for lemons. There are lemon trees in almost every backyard in Sacramento. Or, if you’re like me, you have a nice neighbor you can “borrow” a few from.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Well, what to do with all of these lemons? Lemon curd!
 
 
 
 
The first time I made lemon curd it wasn’t successful. I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to taste like, but it shouldn’t have tasted like that. Raw egg and bitter lemons. Yuk! I threw away the entire batch and never wanted to try it ever again. You see, I have never had lemon curd and wanted to see what the hype was all about. I was really disappointed. I think I had a bad recipe.
 
 
 
 
This time was different. Ina Garten had to have a good recipe. It looked easy and good. I had to try it. With my fear of making something taste like raw egg and bitter lemons put to a side and a few lemons borrowed from the neighbor, I was ready.
 
 
 
 
I was already working with better ingredients, which is a good start. Fresh from the Farmer’s Market eggs and extremely ripe lemons from the neighbor’s tree. Ripe lemons are very important in a recipe like this. When lemons aren’t ripe they can be really hard to squeeze. Also, the lemon peel can be a bit bitter. I think that’s what went wrong with the first recipe I tried. I didn’t have ripe lemons right off a lemon tree. Back then, it was really hard to get any juice out and the peel was tough to use too. I also had really old eggs. I think they were at least three weeks old in my refrigerator, maybe more.
 
 
 
 
 
 
This time the lemon curd went well. Ina Garten is a genius. I cooked it a little over her recipe just to make sure that the eggs were fully cooked and the custard was thick for me. I tasted it before I cooked it. It was already good. I knew my ingredients were in my first batch years ago were bad. I am so glad these ingredients were extremely fresh.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I could taste every ingredient in the recipe. Once I put it in my mouth, I could taste the lemon and the chunks of lemon zest. Then came the sweetness to balance out the tartness. Lastly, the egg custard feel and taste came to me. Jim said, “Yup. This is what lemon curd should taste like. Yum.”