What are Meyer Lemon Curd Linzer Cookies? | 3 Tips for Making Soft Linzer Cookies | The Best Lemon Curd Filling | Essential Baking Tools
Theses Meyer lemon curd linzer cookies are bright and full of amazing citrus flavor. We give these cookies a double punch of lemon with lemon zest in the cookie dough and a welcoming smear of lemon curd! Read below for the recipe.
What are Meyer Lemon Curd Linzer Cookies?
Lemon linzer cookies are a variation of traditional Austrian linzer cookies that consist of shortbread cookies (often with almond flour) and jam. Traditional linzers are named after the Linzer Torte, which consists of a pastry with jam in it. The Linzer torte was first created in the city of Linz, hence the name.
For this recipe, I replaced the jam with some delicious Meyer lemon curd, which brings out this amazing citrusy flavor of orange and lemon all in one.
3 Tips for Making Soft Linzer Cookies
Do you like soft shortbread or crisp shortbread cookies? Some people like crisp, but some people love soft. I suppose there isn’t really a right or wrong since it’s just a matter of personal taste.
I personally prefer mine somewhat soft, and these lemon linzer cookies are just that. To make soft linzers, follow these three tips.
First, don’t over work the dough while mixing it. Too much gluten forms in the dough the longer it mixes, and that guarantees a tough cookie that is not enjoyable to eat.
Second, bake the cookies until they are just barely golden around the edges, or even better yet, don’t let them brown. If this is your first time making these cookies, it might be helpful to bake the first sheet of cookies until they are lightly golden so that you have a basic understanding of how quickly your oven bakes them.
You can then cut the baking time down by 1-2 minutes on the next pan so that they cook all the way through but aren’t crisp. Instead, you’ll end up with a softer cookie.
Third, even if the cookies are a bit crispier than you hoped, fill the cookies, cover them, and put them in the fridge overnight. This gives the curd time to soften the cookies slightly. And if your cookies were already soft to begin with, they will stay soft in the fridge.
The Best Lemon Curd Filling
Meyer lemon linzer cookies wouldn’t have the same wow factor without the lemon curd filling. This is my favorite lemon curd ever (Meyer lemon and lemon are interchangeable for this curd), and I developed this recipe so that the curd has enough sweetness with just a hint of pucker.
Lemon is delicious when it is sweet, but it is even better with just a hint of pucker because you experience a bigger flavor profile. In other words, your taste buds get a more interesting experience because they can taste the sweet flavor while getting the slight sharpness of the lemons.
Essential Baking Tools
- Scalloped cookie cutters (cutters of any shape that you prefer)
- A rolling pin and measuring guides (avoid the JosephJoseph guided rolling pin unless you want his name imprinted on everything you bake!)
- Half sheet pans and parchment
- A good whisk for the lemon curd
Other Recipes You’ll Love:
PrintMeyer Lemon Curd Linzer Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes
- Yield: 20 sandwich cookies 1x
- Category: cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cool but slightly soft
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbs milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- Zest of half a Meyer lemon
- 1/2 recipe Lemon Curd (substitute Meyer lemon juice for the lemon juice, same ratio. Everything else is the same.)
Instructions
For the Meyer Lemon Curd
- Follow the lemon curd recipe and chill the curd in a covered container for at least 2 hours so that it cools completely. You don’t want to add hot curd to your linzer cookies, or it can make the cookies turn soggy.
For the Linzer Cookies
- Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add egg, milk, and vanilla; mix until combined.
- Sift dry ingredients(except the almond flour) and add dry ingredients and mix on medium low speed. Then add almond flour and mix.
- Turn the dough out on to a piece of wax paper that is the length of a half sheet pan. Sprinkle the dough and the rolling pin with flour so the dough doesn’t stick. Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thick, and no thicker! For the best results, use a guided rolling pin to get the dough to the right thickness.
- Place the sheet of wax paper with the rolled dough on a cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until dough is chilled and firm.
- Remove dough from fridge and cut out **2 inch circle cookies, scalloped cookies, or any shape you prefer. Transfer the cookies to parchment lined cookie sheets. If the cookie cut outs are too warm to transfer without stretching them, put them in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill and then transfer the cookies to baking sheets.
- Cut out small hearts, circles, or other shapes in the centers of half of the cookies, and chill the cookies for 10 minutes. You can bake the scraps or combine them and roll them out to make a few more cookies.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and then bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes. For super soft linzer cookies, bake just until you can see the slightest golden color on the edges. For crispier cookies, bake until the cookies have more golden brown color around the edges.
- Remove cookies from cookie sheets onto cooling racks and cool completely.
- Spread the Meyer lemon curd on the solid linzer cookies and top with the cutout cookies. Dust with powdered sugar if desired, and enjoy! Refrigerate filled cookies for up to a week.
- As a note- the cookies soften in the fridge once they are filled, so don’t worry if your cookies seem hard and crisp when they come out of the oven. You may even prefer to let them cook until golden so that they don’t soften as much, but this is totally up to you!
Notes
This is a Baker Street Society original recipe.
**You don’t have to use a 2 inch cutter, but keep in mind that if the linzer cookies are bigger, they will take longer to bake.
So what the heck was the almond flour for…?
Hi Tori, I’m so sorry that the directions were unclear on this part. You don’t sift the almond flour, but you still add it with the dry ingredients. I updated the directions to clarify.
Does the 20 sandwich cookies mean 40 individual to make 20 total?
Hi Laura, it means 20 complete sandwich cookies, so 40 individual. I also updated the link for the lemon curd so you can access that recipe now.
The Lemon curd recipe isn’t available. How many cups of curd would you need for one recipe?
I fixed the link. Thank you for letting me know!
I just made these. They turned out so cute! I made them for easter and did flowers, bunnies, and circles. Dough was perfect and easy to use. And yummy too. 10/10.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Your cookies sound delicious and adorable. 💕