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lemon bar cookies

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These cookies are the love child of a lemon bar and a thumbprint cookie. They are made with a buttery & soft, shortbread type of dough, filled with a bright & tart lemon curd, and dusted with powdered sugar. These are so easy to make and perfect to make during winter when citrus fruit is at its peak.

Ingredients

Scale

Lemon Curd

100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

1/4 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 1/8 tsp table salt)

lemon zest, from about 2 medium-large lemons

120g (1/2 cup) lemon juice, from about 2 medium-large lemons

4 egg yolks, large

1 whole egg, large

56g (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter

Cookie Dough

226g (16 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature

150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 3/4 tsp table salt)

1 Tbsp lemon zest, optional

2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

1 tsp lemon paste or extract, optional

2 egg yolks, large

270g (2 1/4 cups) all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp cornstarch

60g (1/2 cup) powdered sugar, for rolling

30g (1//4 cup) powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions

Make the Lemon Curd

To a saucepan, add the granulated sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Use your fingertips or a spatula to rub the zest into the sugar to release the oils. Pour in the lemon juice and stir to combine. Add the eggs and whisk well. 

Place the saucepan on medium-low heat and stir constantly until the lemon curd thickens and reaches 170 F.

Pour the lemon curd into a sieve placed over a heat proof bowl. Stir in the butter until melted and combined. Cover the curd with cling film and refrigerate until ready to use, up to two weeks.

Make the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cream the butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the vanilla, lemon paste, and egg yolks and continue mixing until the mixture is emulsified, i.e. thick, glossy, and fully combined.

Add the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch to the mixture and mix just until the flour is incorporated. Do not over-mix, or the cookies will be tough.

Scoop the dough into 18 dough balls weighing approximately 40g-42g using a #30 cookie scoop. Roll each ball in powdered sugar and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, about 9 cookies per sheet. These will spread, so they will need a few inches between each other.

Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, gently press a divot into each dough ball. If the dough cracks, press it back together. Using your fingers, pinch the edges of the thumbprint shape to thin them out while keeping the height. Press the center of the dough down slightly so that it is not very thick, but be careful not to make it too thin.

Evenly divide the lemon curd among the prepared cookies, about a heaping tablespoon each.

Refrigerate the cookies for about 15 minutes to chill the butter. This helps the cookies spread a bit less and more controlled.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 14-18 minutes, or until the bottom edges of the cookies starts turning golden. 

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the sheet for about five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once the cookies are completely cool, dust with powdered sugar.

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature if they’ll be eaten within the day, or in the refrigerate up to a week.

Notes

    • ‘Mise en place’ is a French phrase with the idea of putting everything in its place before beginning to make a recipe. It helps everything to go smoothly and eliminates so much possible stress. Getting all of your supplies and ingredients together before ever starting the recipe will help tremendously.

    • Weigh your ingredients, particularly the flour. It is the most important measurement in this recipe to weigh. Flour can be off in volume measurements by up to 30g, which is a quarter cup! Having incorrect flour measurements can cause your cookies to spread too much or, alternatively, be dry and crumbly. Weighing your ingredients makes everything so much easier, as you don’t have to wash all the measuring cups at the end. However, I do not use the scale to weigh out teaspoon or tablespoon measurements for things like baking powder, salt, vanilla, or cornstarch, for example.

    • Room temperature ingredients make all the difference in baking lemon bar cookies.

    • Creaming the butter/sugar mixture really well will make a lighter, more tender cookie.

    • Chill time is very minimal in this recipe; you only need to chill each sheet of cookies for about 15 minutes.

    • Don’t over-bake them. These cookies are meant to be on the softer side. They’ll be a bit crispy at the edges, but we are not looking for a lot of browning. Bake them until they start getting a bit golden at the bottom edges.

Find it online: https://linenandgray.com/lemon-bar-cookies/