Scroll to the bottom of the post to get ALL the “12 Days” recipes from 2019 – 2023!
Welcome to Day 8 of
The Twelve Days of Holiday Treats!
Once again, this year, from December 1st-12th I’ll post a new holiday treat recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining!
The recipes I’m sharing are small-er batch – each recipe makes 1-dozen or a few more smaller-sized treats that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim. Check out the treats from 2019 – 2023 at the bottom of this post too for more inspiration!
Today’s treat is a melt in your mouth shortbread flavoured with lemon zest made into a kind of thumbprint cookie and filled with lemon curd (again, store bought is fine!). Because the dough is so soft and the texture is melt-in-your-mouth, they don’t look quite as pretty as a regular thumbprint cookie but don’t judge a cookie by its appearance!
See how they are a little wonky? You could make these in muffin tins to make them more uniform in shape but these did ok just on baking sheets.
Using store-bought lemon curd makes these an easy holiday bake because they only have a few staple ingredients otherwise so you can whip them up on a whim!
Lemon Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
Thumbprint cookies with a lemony twist!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 113g (8 tablespoons/ 1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 113g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour, sifted
- approx. 1/4-1/3 cup lemon curd
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Rub the zest into the sugar in a medium bowl until the sugar is quite wet.
- Add the butter and use electric hand beaters on medium speed to mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy, approx. 2-3 minutes.
- Add the flour and use electric hand beaters on low speed to mix until the flour is just incorporated.
- Add the juice and mix until the mixture sticks together when it’s pinched with your fingers.
- Use a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop to divide the dough into 14-16 pieces.
- Hold each piece for a few seconds in your hand until it’s pliable, roll it into a small ball, flatten this into a small disk and place it on the baking tray, using your thumb to make an imprint in the middle.
- Spoon approximately 1 teaspoon of lemon curd into each indentation and smooth to cover evenly.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes until the curd is bubbling and the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Remove the tray from the oven, place it on a wire cooling rack and if your lemon curd has cooked down, add 1/2 to 1 extra teaspoon of cold lemon curd and swirl to combine.
- Place the cookies, still on the parchment, on a wire cooling rack and allow them to come to room temperature. They are very fragile, so do wait!
Notes
Cookies can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days in an airtight container. If stacking more than one layer, place parchment paper in between the layers.
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Stay tuned for tomorrow’s treat!
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Check out 2023’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Holiday Speckles
Day 2: Soft Chocolate Mint Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Funfetti Thumbprint Cookies with Ruby Drop Centres
Day 4: Chocolate Orange Creme Cups
Day 5: Chocolate Filled Shortbread Cups
Day 6: Pistachio Fruit Bread Crackers
Day 7: Pistachio Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Day 8: Iced Mocha Financier Bars (GF)
Day 9: Lemon Meringue Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Chocolate Hazelnut Financiers
Day 11: Cranberry, Almond and Pistachio “truffles”
Day 12: Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies (GF)
Check out 2022’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Chocolate Peppermint Creme Cups
Day 2: Chocolate-Dipped Wafer Cookies
Day 3: Gingerbread madeleines
Day 4: Funfetti Cookies
Day 5: Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Day 6: Coffee Financiers
Day 7: No-Bake Strawbery Cheesecake Cups
Day 8: Holiday Joys
Day 9: Holiday Spice Marmalade
Day 10: Soft Molasses Cookies
Day 11: Coconut Roughs
Day 12: Holiday Lights Jam Sandwich Cookies
Check out 2021’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Speculoos financiers
Day 2: Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies
Day 3: Madeleines à la Clémentine
Day 4: Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Day 5: Sunbutter and Jam Chocolate Cups
Day 6: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies
Day 7: Linzer Cookies
Day 8: Chocolate-Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies
Day 9: Choc-Mint Thumbprint Cookies
Day 10: Pailles (Puff Pastry and Jam Cookies)
Day 11: Strawberry Santa Hats
Day 12: Mulled Wine Jam
Check out 2020’s 12 Days of Holiday Treats:
Day 1: Rice Krispie Wreaths
Day 2: Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
Day 3: Peppermint Bark
Day 4: Orangettes
Day 5: Rocky Road Chocolate Crackle Slice
Day 6: Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Day 7: Orange Pim’s
Day 8: Mendiants
Day 9: Chewy Chocolate Mint Crackle Cookies
Day 10: Apricot, Coconut and Cranberry “truffles”
Day 11: Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies
Day 12: Peppermint Hot Chocolate
Check out 2019’s 12 Days of Holiday Cookies:
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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