Lemon Shortbread Cookies, with bits of white chocolate and topped with lemon curd, are delicious and refreshing treats! A sweet and sour concoction of incredible flavor makes these easy shortbread cookies the perfect snack for hot summer days.
If you like the combination of sweet white chocolate and tart lemon flavor, you must try my White Chocolate Lemon Truffles, too!!!
Lemon Shortbread Cookies with White Chocolate
Classic Shortbread cookies use 4 ingredients: butter, flour, sugar and salt. You can add vanilla or almond extract for flavoring. This Lemon Shortbread Cookies recipe uses vanilla extract and grated lemon zest for flavor, but I added bits of white chocolate, too.
Tips and Tricks on Making Lemon Shortbread Cookies
To make the shortbread cookie dough mix butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Then, turn your mixer on low speed and gradually add flour. Mix until combine. The dough must be chilled before baking. Whipped butter makes the dough vey soft and sticky. If you skip the chilling part the cookies will spread too much while baking.
What makes shortbread short is the large amount of butter. Shortening or butter makes cookies crumbly.
Shortbread cookies are baked at low temperature to avoid browning. Shortbread Cookies are nearly white when cooked or light golden. They are soft before cooled but will become firmer after cooling. But for this Lemon Shortbread Cookies recipe we will use that stage and gently press the center of each cookies with the bottom of glass to make a space for lemon curd topping. However, you must be really careful, because the cookies are soft and crumbly at this point and they will crack if you press them too hard.
When the cookies are completely cooled spread lemon curd on top of cookies. You can make homemade lemon curd or use store bought.
How to Make Lemon Curd:
This EASY LEMON CURD RECIPE uses 5 ingredients: lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, butter.
To make delicious homemade lemon curd, in a sauce pan melt the butter. Remove from the heat, add sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest, whisk to combine. Add eggs and whisk well. Place over medium heat and cook for 5-6 minutes until all sugar dissolve and the mixture is thick enough to hold the marks from a whisk. Cool completely.
And you’ll never ever want to go to a store and buy a jar of lemon curd. You will make your own irresistible homemade lemon curd.
The Best Shortbread Cookies Recipes:
Make the classic shortbread cookies with red bits of Maraschino Cherry and you will get beautiful Christmas Cookies – Maraschino Cherry Shortbread Cookies.
If you are looking for the best Christmas cookie recipe White Chocolate Strawberry Shortbread Cookies is really over- the- top!!!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies. For me and my family, this is one of the tastiest cookies recipes ever.
Pin Lemon Shortbread Cookies for later:
Lemon Shortbread Cookies Recipe
Print
Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Prep Time: 45 minutes- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
Yield: 18 cookies 1x
Category: Desserts
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
Description
Lemon Shortbread Cookies, with bits of white chocolate and topped with lemon curd, are delicious and refreshing treats! A sweet and sour concoction of incredible flavor makes these easy shortbread cookies the perfect snack for hot summer days.
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter-softened
- ½ cup + 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- grated zest from 1 lemon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3.5 oz. white chocolate chopped into small pieces
Homemade Lemon Curd:
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- ½ cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Decoration:
- 1.5–2 oz. white chocolate
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
- To make homemade lemon curd, in a sauce pan melt the butter. Remove from the heat, add sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest, whisk to combine. Add eggs and whisk well. Place over medium heat and cook for 5-6 minutes until all sugar dissolve and the mixture is thick enough to hold the marks from a whisk. Cool completely.
- To make the shortbread cookie dough mix butter, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest until smooth.
- Turn your mixer on low speed and gradually add flour. Mix until combine.
- Stir in finely chopped white chocolate.
- Transfer the dough on a piece of parchment paper and roll into log (about 1 ½ -1 ¾ inch diameter). Gently press with your hands, wrap tightly in parchment paper and refrigerate the log for 2 hours to firm. If you make ahead, you can store the dough up to four days in a fridge or freeze up to 3 months, but then you must wrap the log with plastic wrap!
- When the log is firm, preheat oven to 325 F, line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the log and using serrated knife cut into 1/3-inch thick slices. If the dough crumbles too much leave it at room temperature 5-8 mins then slice.
- If the slices lose their shape press it back together with your fingers and place them onto baking sheet with one inch of space between.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until the edges are lightly golden.
- When remove baked cookies from the oven gently press the center of each warm cookie with the bottom of the glass to make the space for lemon curd. Cool on baking sheets for 5 mins then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- Spread about 1-1 ½ teaspoons of lemon curd on each cookie.
- Melt about 1.5-2 oz white chocolate with ½ teaspoon coconut oil, transfer to a piping bag or zip-lock bag, cut of the corner and decorate the cookies.
13 comments
These cookies are pure art! I’ve picked out a couple of recipe to try this weekend and I think I will be gaining a few pounds. Oven to Tummy.
These sound heavenly! I’m going to try them this weekend. Can I substitute something for the coconut oil? I don’t want to buy it for just this little amount. Perhaps a little half and half, which I have on hand?
Hi Chris, you can use any vegetable oil.
I’ll be trying these on Monday I can’t wait! Then I’ll be posting them on Facebook for my friends 😃😋
[…] Lemon Shortbread Cookies with bits of white chocolate, topped with lemon curd are delicious and refreshing summer treat. […]
Well I made these cookies and they were really delicious but there was not enough white chocolate for the piping and way too much lemon curd!
Hello! I noticed you didn’t list salt in your ingredients (so I added 1/4 tsp) making it now! Looking forward to tasting them!
Are the lemon cookies in the pictures the actual size?
Do you put it in the fridge???
I want to make these cookies! You said to add salt but you didn’t list how much! Please clarify.
Can I sub out parts of the butter for coconut oil? Maybe in the shortbread half butter half coconut oil…in the lemon curd all coconut oil? Maybe to make it a little healthier but mostly I have lots of coconut oil and not enough butter at the moment….I’ll prob just give it a try anyways. Thanks though.
For the batter itself , do you need to add the white chocolate chips? Or are they optional?
I made them are they were the best and today I am making it again.