Bright and cheery, these lemon curd thumbprint cookies are perfect for adding some sunshine to your day. With a buttery shortbread-like cookie and a rich lemony filling, they are a delicious treat you'll want to share with family and friends. The cookies have a bit of lemon zest in the dough to compliment the lemon curd and give you a balanced citrus flavor. This recipe makes a small batch of 24 cookies, easy enough to mix by hand and prepare when the craving strikes.
You need a lemon curd for filling the thumbprint cookies with that punchy lemon flavor and bright sunny color. Make a double batch of homemade lemon curd and you can make these cookies and lemon curd cheesecake bars, too!
If you love a citrus aroma in your desserts, try these orange cardamom sugar cookies next!
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Ingredients
I include ingredient notes here when I think they'll be helpful, including ways to source, any preparation tips, or why I've chosen a particular ingredient. Be sure to check out the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and their quantities!
- Salted Butter - This recipe was developed with salted butter. If you only have unsalted better on hand, add ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt to the butter before the creaming step.
- Powdered Sugar - Powdered sugar contains a small amount of cornstarch that helps build a soft texture in the cookies. The powdered sugar provides a subtle sweetness to the cookies.
- All-Purpose Flour - Your pantry staple all-purpose flour provides plenty of structure to the cookies.
- Large Egg - One large egg helps keep the dough from crumbling and adds a bit of richness.
- Vanilla - Just a teaspoon of vanilla adds a subtle aroma to round out the sweetness.
- Lemon Zest - Adding zest to the cookie dough provides extra lemon punch. It's optional, but highly recommended.
- Granulated Sugar - Sparkly granulated sugar coats the cookie dough before baking to give a subtle crunch and caramelization.
- Lemon Curd - Prepare a batch of this easy whole egg lemon curd for filling the cookies before baking. It bakes up without overflowing the thumbprints in the cookies. In the past, I have recommended a lemon curd from Trader Joe's for a store bought option. In recent testing, however, I have had poor results with it boiling over the thumbprints once baked.
Instructions
Line two sheet pans with parchment paper for baking the cookies.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with a hand mixer until it is light and fluffy.
Add the egg, vanilla, and optional lemon zest to the butter.
Mix with the hand mixer until the ingredients are well-incorporated. The appearance will be a bit curdled, but it will smooth out once the dry ingredients are added.
Add the flour and powdered sugar to the butter mixture.
Start the mixer from a low speed and slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. Increase the speed of the mixer and continue to blend until the dough comes together.
Roll generous tablespoons of dough into a ball and then roll the ball into the granulated sugar before placing it on the sheet pan.
Coat the bottom of a ½-teaspoon measuring spoon and use it to create an indentation in each dough ball. Alternatively, use an actual thumb to make your thumbprints! Make sure to coat the spoon or your thumb in sugar before each cookie to prevent sticking. Shaping the thumbprints before chilling means you won't make cracks in the dough once it's cold.
Chill the dough balls for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 375°F. If you don't have space for two large sheet pans in your refrigerator, you can prepare your dough balls and move them onto a smaller pan to chill.
Right before baking, fill a piping bag or a zip top bag with the lemon curd to make filling the cookies easier.
Fill each cookie with the lemon curd but leave a little space for the curd to expand without spilling over.
Bake the cookies for 14-15 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to brown. You can bake both sheet pans at the same time, just rotate the pans from top to bottom after 8 minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven and move them to a wire rack to completely cool. Don't try a cookie right out of the oven! The lemon curd is piping hot and will burn your mouth.
Store Bought Lemon Curd
When this recipe was first published, I could use a store-bought lemon curd from Trader Joe's interchangeably with a homemade option. In recent years, the store bought one has failed in the cookies, running over the thumbprint wells and quickly caramelizing or burning at the edges. If you feel confident in another specific store-bought brand, bake up a test batch of 2-4 cookies to make sure it works! If it's successful, let us know what the brand is in the comments.
Equipment
Here are the kitchen tools that help make prep of these cookies easy:
- Cookie Scoop - A cookie scoop makes portioning cookie dough a cinch. Cookie scoops are also great for making meatballs, scooping ice cream, portioning out sticky things like peanut butter or frosting, and transferring wet batters (like muffins and cupcakes) to baking tins. Scoops are labeled with their size based on how many scoops you'd get in a quart of dough. My favorite is a #50, which holds about 1.25 tablespoons of dough and is perfect for these thumbprint cookies.
- Sheet Pans - A half sheet pan measures 13" x 18" and is a workhorse in the kitchen, perfect for sheet pan dinners, baking sheet pan pancakes, and cookies. Another great size is the quarter sheet pan, measuring 13" x 9". This is perfect for small batches of cookies, organizing ingredients, or chilling the dough balls before baking.
- Electric Mixer - I often reach for a stand mixer when baking, but smaller batch recipes are better suited to an electric mixer. This lemon curd thumbprint cookie recipe can also be mixed up by hand with a wooden spoon.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these cookies with coffee, tea, or milk (if you ask my kiddos). They are a great afternoon pick-me-up or a simple option for after-dinner treats. Add them to a baby or bridal shower table for a pretty pastel dessert!
Storage
Store baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Allow them to come to room temperature before serving them for the most lemon flavor.
Make-Ahead Options
You can make the dough, portion and roll the dough balls, and press the thumbprints ahead of a big baking day. It's always easiest to press the thumbprints while the dough is warm and soft so that you can avoid cracks. Freeze them on a sheet pan and then transfer them to a zip-topped bag for freezer storage. To bake them, move the cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet to thaw, fill them with curd, and bake as directed in the recipe card.
FAQ
For this recipe, the lemon curd is added before baking, resulting in a set lemon curd filling. This makes the filling shiny and mellows out the acidity a bit.
This recipe will easily double and you can prepare a large batch for even more sharing! You will have to do the baking in two batches so that the cookies aren't too crowded on the pan.
The best way to prevent crumbs sticking to your filling is to lay the cookies in a single layer in your airtight container. If you need to add a second layer of cookies, place a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper over the first layer before stacking cookies.
More Lemon Desserts
Lemon is a popular addition to sweets and treats for a good reason! The balance of sweet and tart flavors can't be beat. Here are some other recipes to try if lemon is your favorite, too:
Pairing Ideas
Let these lemon curd thumbprint cookies be the sweet treat at the end of a tasty dinner party menu with the recipes below:
Try It and Share
I hope you try these Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies and enjoy the recipe as much as we do. I want to see your results! Tag your photo with #planeatpostrepeat and mention me @planeatpostrepeat on Instagram or Facebook. I can give you a virtual high five and thank you for cooking one of my recipes! Comment below with any questions and please leave a review so others can find this recipe more easily.
This post was updated in November of 2025 to add extensive preparation details, step-by-step photos, and additional post structure for easy navigation. The recipe was also altered from the original April 2020 version for improved quality, with an addition of lemon zest, a dough chilling step, and notes on using store-bought lemon curd.
Recipe
Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter (12 tablespoons)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)
- ½ cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar (60 grams)
- 1½ cups` all purpose flour (187 grams)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cups lemon curd
Instructions
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter with a hand mixer until fluffy and light, about 2 minutes.
- Add in egg, vanilla, and optional zest and mix until combined. The mixture will look a bit curdled, but will smooth out once the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the powdered sugar and flour to the butter and slowly incorporate, starting your mixer on low. Once all of the dry ingredients are incorporated, continue to mix at a medium speed until the dough starts to form.
- Roll generous tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball and coat with granulated sugar.
- Dip the bottom of a round ½ teaspoon measuring spoon or your thumb into granulated sugar and create a thumbprint on each cookie, careful not to go too close to the bottom of the cookie.
- Chill the cookie dough balls for 30 minutes, either on the parchment-lined sheets or a smaller pan to save refrigerator space. While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Place the cookie balls on the parchment-lined sheets, spacing them apart by 2 inches.
- Add a spoonful of lemon curd to each cookie, trying not to overfill. A piping bag or a zip-topped bag makes this easier.
- Bake, until the edges of the cookie are just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. If you are baking two sheet pans of cookies at the same time, swap them from top rack to bottom (and vice versa) after about 8 minutes of cooking. Remove from pan after baking and cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition facts are sometimes provided below and are calculated using an online calculator. With specific brands of ingredients and additions, omissions, or substitutions the nutrition facts may change. We encourage you to use your own nutrition facts calculator to obtain the most accurate nutrition facts for your meal.
MaryAnn Catros says
I made these cookies this morning, after unearthing a jar of lemon curd from my pantry. I love shortbread cookies in general, and the lemon put these over the top! Very easy and very good—- they’ll be great with my afternoon tea!
cassieelane says
I'm so glad you tried them! They are a great treat with tea.
Roberta Saling says
These are delicious and so easy to make. I made your Mom’s Lemon Curd as well - so easy and so good. Thanks for sharing.