Linzer Cookies – Poppy Seed Lemon

Made with delicate poppy seed shortbread, these Linzer Cookies are filled with lemon curd.

If you have never tried linzer cookies, you are seriously missing out! These fancy sandwich cookies are a wonderful Springtime treat that are perfect for serving and bridal and baby showers, Mother’s Day and Easter.

Hi, I’m Deb from Cooking on the Front Burner and back this month with another new recipe to share with Ang’s readers.  These Poppy Seed Lemon Linzer Cookies that I’m sharing were one of the desserts I made for Easter dinner.  We always spend Easter at our good friend’s house and I’m asked to bring a sweet treat or two.  The ages for the guests start at 8 mos. and go upward to 60 (no, not me!) so I try to come up with something that I think will appeal to everyone.  These cookies are a delicate shortbread with a homemade lemon curd and were enjoyed by all the guests.

What are Linzer Cookies?

Linzer Cookies are usually made with flour, unsalted butter, eggs and flavorings such as vanilla or almond extract.  The cookies are filled with a fruit butter, jam or curd and dusted with confectioner’s sugar.

What is Lemon Curd and How Do You Make it?

A curd is made by cooking together fruit juice, egg yolks, butter and sugar to make a delicious thick custard-like spread.   think of it like a sweet condiment that can be used with all kinds of baked goods like muffins, scones, and cookies.  Lemon curd has a very intense lemon flavor from the juice and zest of fresh lemons.

Linzer Cookies Shopping List:

• Unsalted Butter
• Sugar
• Confectioner’s Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Flour
• Poppy Seeds
• Eggs
• Lemons

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Items You May Also Need:

For a list of some of my favorite items to use when cooking, please visit my Kitchen Resource page.

You’re going to love this linzer cookie recipe!

Poppy Seed Lemon Linzer Cookies

A delicate shortbread cookie with homemade lemon curd

5 from 13 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Shortbread

• 3 sticks of soft unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbl poppy seeds

Lemon Curd

• 1 large egg
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Zest from 2 lemons finely grated
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• pinch salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter cut into cubes

Instructions

Shortbread

• Mix the butter, sugar, confectioners sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce to low speed and slowly add the flour and salt. When mixed, add the poppy seeds and continue mixing for 1 minute.
• Remove the dough and divide it in two. Place one half between two sheets of parchment paper and roll until 1/4" thick. Using a cookie cutter to cut out the bottoms (removing unused dough, re-rolling and continue to make more bottoms until first half of dough is used up). Place all bottoms on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour. Do the same thing with the other half of the dough and use a small shape cookie cutter to cut out centers.
• To bake preheat the oven to 325 and bake the cookies about 10-12 minutes until light brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack and cool completely. With the top cookie, dust with confectioners sugar

Assemble

• Place about 1 teaspoon lemon curd on bottom cookie and then place top on and slightly press together.

Lemon Curd

• Use a double boiler and bring water to simmer in pan making sure it won't touch the bottom of the top part.
• Add in the top part all the ingredients minus the butter. Set it over the simmering water and whisk the mixture constantly until it reaches 170 degrees, remove from stove and add butter and stir until melted.
• Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
• Place this bowl inside another bowl that is filled with ice water.
• Let the mixture stand at room temperature until it is cooled and thickened (this part can be done a day ahead and kept refrigerated until needed)

Notes

Adapted from Flour Arrangements

Please Note: I am not a registered dietician. Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and portion sizes.

For the cookies, I found a cookie cutter kit that was especially designed for making Linzer cookies, like the one pictured above from Amazon.  But you could use a any type of cookie cutter and get small ones for the center.  These could be adapted for any holiday – small hearts for Valentine’s day, etc.

What is the Difference Between Lemon Curd and Lemon Pie Filling?

Lemon curd and lemon pie filling are similar but lemon curd has a more intense flavor.  The texture is different also between lemon curd is thickened with egg yolks and the natural pectin from the lemon juice and zest.  Pie filling is thickened with cornstarch or flour usually.

Linzer Cookie Recipe Variations:

And if you really don’t want to fuss with making lemon curd, substitute jam, which makes these cookies super easy to make!  Omit the poppy seeds and instead of lemon curd, use one of these flavors of jam:

• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Apricot
• Blueberry

If you liked these Linzer Cookies, you might also like:

• Homemade Twix Cookies – Juggling Act Mama
• Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies – Valerie Kitchen
• Chewy M&M Brownie Cookies – Juggling Act Mama