If you like the refreshing sidle taste of lemon, you will love these cookies. These cookies are a shortbread cookie dough that has been filled with creamy and delicious lemon pastry cream before baking.

I have been watching many of ” The Great British Bake off” episodes lately and the creativity of the bakers has inspired me to branch out and try making unique bakes that challenge my baking skills much like what the contestants are tasked with baking on the show.

What is Pastry Cream?

Pastry cream also known, as Crème Patisserie, is cooked custard that is a standard component in many pastry bakes. It is a rich, creamy custard that is made with simple staple ingredients commonly found in your kitchen. 

With the use of milk, cream, eggs, sugar, flour and the use of heat and a fast whisk, almost an endless variety of flavored filling can be made for pastries and desserts.

Lemon Pastry Cream Filled Cookies

Print Recipe

If you like the refreshing sidle taste of lemon, you will love these cookies.

Equipment

• 2 medium size saucepans
• medium size glass mixing bowl
• whisk
• strainer
• cooking thermometer is nice to use

Ingredients

Lemon Cream Filling

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 peel from lemons
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cookie Dough

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 lemon- zest
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted cold butter

Topping

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Lemon Cream Filling

• In your first medium size saucepan pour in milk, heavy cream, and lemon rhine from 2 lemons. Heat the milk until it is hot, but not boiling …around 120 degrees
  
• In the second medium size sauce pan, whisk together the 2 egg yolks and the sugar. Add the flour and the vanilla while contining to whisk the mixture until smooth.
  
• Check the temperature of the milk mixture. It needs to cool down from being very hot to warm. When it is warm ( around 108 -110 degrees) it will be cool enough to use.
• Place your saucepan with the egg yolks onto the stove and turn the heat on to low and stir
  
• Place a strainer over the saucepan with the egg yolks and slowly pour milk mixture through the strainer into the saucepan. The stainer will catch the lemon rhine in the milk. Toss/discard the lemon rhine from the stainer.
  
• Whisk until the mixture thickened. Do not allow the mixture to over heat. It can quickly and easily scald if the heat is to high or if it overheats. Tip: when it starts to slightly thicken, lift the saucepan off of the burned and stir the mixtire over the stove.
• When thicken, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes
• Transfer the pastry cream to a glass bowl amd cover the cream with plstic wrap. The plastic wrap needs to touch the pastry cream to prevent a skim layer from forming on the top.
  
• Refrigerate the pastry cream at minium for one hour. The cream can be made and use the next day if desired.

Making the Cookie Dough

• Using a food processor add the flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Pulse mixture until well blended
  
• Add egg yolks and diced up pieces of cold butter. Pulse until well mixed. The ingredients will come together and form a dough.
  
• Tranfer dough from the food processor to your work surface. Form the dough into a ball and wrap the doughl in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.
  

Preparing the Cookies to Bake

• Preheat oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parachment paper.
• Remove both the dough and the lemon pastry cream from the refrigerator.
• Divide the dough into quarters ( half the dough and then half it again). Roll out on quarter of the dough about 1/8 inch in thickness.
• Use a round or scalloped cookie cutter about 3 inches wide to cut out the dough. (Cut out 24 rounds for 12 cookies)
• Place cut out dough onto the parchment paper. Place about a spoon full of the lemon cream in the center of half the cut out cookies. ( on 12 if making a dozen cookies)
  
• Cover each of the cookies with filling with a solid cookie top.
  
• Seal the edges so the filling does not come out. You can use a fork, tongs, or your fingers to seal the edges around the cookies.
• Place the cookie sheet into the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking. This will firm up the cookies and prevent them from losing their shape. The cookie dough has a high quanity of butter and the dough quickly becomes very soft.

  Bake the cookies for about 14 minutes or until the edges just start to become brown.
• Cool the cookies on a cooling rack and dust with powdered sugar when completely cooled

Course: Dessert

Author: Beverly

Make sure you grab a cookie before others know that they are baked. I promise these cookies will not last long.

Enjoy!!

Please let me know how your cookies turned out and what you thought about them.

Cheers!!