Let’s make easy Easter cookies with lemon curd yolks that taste delicious and are absolutely adorable! They are actually shortbread sandwich cookies with a lemon curd filling, making them the easiest homemade Easter treat!
I used a recipe similar to this one and I used lemon curd as a filler between two cookies and to resemble an egg yolk.
What exactly is shortbread and where does it get the name?
The original Scottish shortbread or biscuit dates back to the 12th century. Later it can be accredited to Mary, Queen of Scots. It was baked, cut into wedges that resembled petticoats, and flavored with caraway seeds.
Shortbread is made from one part white sugar to two parts butter and three to four parts flour. It does not have any leavening like baking powder or baking soda.
What are the main ingredients?
- Sugar
- Butter
- Flour
- Lemon zest from one lemon
What’s the best butter for shortbread?
I try to find European butter when making shortbread cookies. Since there are very few ingredients in shortbread, you want the best quality. I buy Plugra unless I’m near a TraderJoe’s. Even Bon Appetit agrees that Trader Joe’s butter is as good as the French Stuff!
We made them into sandwich cookies with lemon curd as the filling
Easter Cookies With Lemon Curd Yolks
This recipe is similar to the one for twice-baked shortbread, but they are baked only once!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 34 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: cookies
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1/4 cup white rice flour
- 1 cup unsalted European butter (at room temperature)
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Lemon zest from one lemon
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Whisk or stir the flour, cornstarch, and rice flour in a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, lemon zest, and salt and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until a rough dough starts to form. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface and mold it into a disc. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the cookie dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and cut 12 egg-shaped cookies or use an egg-shaped cookie cutter. Cut a hole using a small round cookie cutter in half of the cookies. You may have to work the dough into a ball again and chill in the refrigerator for a few minutes before making all 12 cookies.
- Refrigerate the cut-out cookies for about 30 minutes before baking. This helps prevent spreading in the oven. You want them to hold their egg shape.
- Bake in a 325º oven for 12 minutes, rotate, and bake for another 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on a cooling rack.
- Dust the cookies with the hole with powdered sugar.
- Spread a layer of lemon curd on the remaining half of the cookies and place it on top of the cookie fill the hole with the lemon curd to resemble an egg yolk.
Notes
The original recipe is from Bon Appétit and it worked so well for twice-baked that I decided to use it to make this shortbread. I did try the shortbread before it was baked again and it seemed perfect for a traditional shortbread cookie. Sometimes shortbread recipes can be dry and too crumbly, this one is not at all too dry!
Annie, I love a good shortbread recipe! Thanks for sharing. I don’t have an egg shaped cookie cutter (hard to believe as I have all other shapes). Where did you get yours? I guess I can google it but since I make my own lemon curd from our lemons, these cookies would be perfect.
Hi Mary! I had a hard time finding one. I didn’t have one either! I found it 50% off at Michael’s. I was close to making a pattern out of cardboard! How wonderful to make your own lemon curd with your Arizona lemons! Send me a photo to share if you can! xx
So so pretty and clever Annie! I love the way these turned out!
These are too cute! I will be adding them to my Easter dessert menu. Essential oils are baking friendly? Or are there some that are just for baking? Have never heard of that. Could lemon extract be used? Also, about how big was your egg cookie cutter? I don’t think I have one either and was thinking of cutting one out of cardboard as well.
Hi Colleen,
Yes, you can use essential oils to boost flavor or even as a substitute for lemon juice with a bit of water. Just make sure the essential oils are pure-grade oils with no filler!
My cookie cutter must be a 4″ because I used a small circle cutter inside for the yolk. You could use a cardboard cutout for sure! I do that a lot!
annie