Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
Cute, tangy, & perfectly sweetened lemon thumbprint cookies! They’re filled with my homemade lemon curd, but feel free to use your favorite store-bought brand. These cookies are easy, fun, and simple to make, plus perfect for any lemon lovers out there. 🍋❤️
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Ingredients
To make these lemon curd cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
Ingredient Notes
- You’ll need softened unsalted butter, which you’ll cream with the granulated and brown sugars. You’ll also need a little extra granulated sugar to roll the cookie dough balls in before shaping.
- Cornstarch helps the cookies keep their shape, while also remaining soft.
- I used homemade lemon curd to fill my cookies. Feel free to use store-bought if you have a favorite brand!
- After baking, I decorated the cookies with chocolate melting wafers, but you can always use chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars instead. I used milk chocolate wafers for the lemon stems and dyed white chocolate wafers with green food coloring for the leaves.
- It’s best to use oil-based food coloring so the chocolate doesn’t seize. However, if you don’t have it on hand (like me), you can always stir in 1-2 tsp neutral oil (canola, vegetable) to the melted chocolate so it comes back together.
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
How To Make Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
Step 1: Lightly cream softened butter and sugars until smooth.
Step 2: Mix in egg and vanilla extract until fully combined.
Step 3: Stir in dry ingredients until no dry spots remain. Roll 1 ½ tablespoon cookie dough balls into sugar, then place on a lined cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.
Step 4: Use your thumb or thin end of a spatula to create circle indents. (Tip: The deeper the cavity, the more lemon curd you can add!) Use a knife to drag out the edges to create a lemon shape.
Step 5: Fill cavities with lemon curd, making sure to not overfill. Bake at 350°F/177°C for 11-13 minutes, or until edges are set and lightly golden brown.
Step 6: Use melted chocolates to draw on lemon stem and leaves. Enjoy!
For full instructions, see the recipe card below.
Baking Tips
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- If the dough is sticking when making the circle imprints, try lightly flouring your thumb or the end of the silicone spatula.
🍋 Other Lemon Recipes
🎥 Quick Video Tutorial
I really hope you enjoy this lemon curd cookie recipe! If you make it, I’d love to see! You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram.
📖 Recipe
Cute Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
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Equipment
- Measuring spoons
- hand whisk or electric mixer
- silicone spatula
- knife,
- medium mixing bowl for dry ingredients
- large mixing bowl for cookie dough
- small cookie scoop 1 ½ tablespoon capacity
- Parchment Paper
- Wire rack
- small microwave-safe bowls, for heating chocolate
- piping bags or toothpick for decorating cookies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 ¾ cup (218.75 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (8 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
- ½ tsp (3 g) table salt
Wet Ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter softened
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp (36 g) brown sugar light or dark
- 1 tbsp (15 g) vanilla extract can sub 1:1 vanilla paste
- 1 (1) egg room temperature
For rolling:
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
Filling:
- ½ cup (113 g) lemon curd
Decoration (optional):
- 1 tbsp (45 g) white chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp (15 g) milk/dark chocolate chips
- green oil-based food coloring
Instructions
For the cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients: 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, 1 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp baking powder, and ½ tsp table salt.
- In a large bowl, lightly cream the softened ½ cup unsalted butter, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, and 3 tbsp brown sugar until smooth with an electric/stand mixer or hand whisk.
- Mix in 1 tbsp vanilla extract and 1 egg until smooth.
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients. Fold using silicone spatula until no dry spots remains.
Shape & bake cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Add ¼ cup granulated sugar into small bowl or plate.
- Use a small cookie dough scoop to gather dough into a ball (about1 ½ tablespoon each). Roll into granulated sugar and place onto lined cookie sheet, spacing cookies about 3 inches apart.
- Using your thumb or thin end of a spatula, make a circle indentation in the middle of the cookies. Use a knife to drag out two pointed ends to resemble a lemon.Tip: If dough is sticky, lightly flour your thumb or spatula every time you create an indent.
- Spoon lemon curd into the middles, making sure not to overfill.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until edges are set and lightly golden brown. Let cookies rest on baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to fully cool.
Decorate:
- Note: You can a piping bag, toothpick, or cookie scribe to add on the details. I used piping bags.
- Add 1 tbsp white chocolate chips to small microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone spatula, until fully melted. Use this to draw on the stems.
- Melt 1 tbsp white chocolate chipsDye with green green oil-based food coloring. Use this for the leaves.Tip: If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Storage: Keep cookies at room temp in airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Tip for measuring ingredients: I weigh my ingredients with a kitchen scale, rather than using measuring cups because it is more accurate. If using measuring cups, I recommend spooning flour into the cup and overfilling it, then leveling it off with a knife.