Lemon Cream & Nut Cookies
Submitted by drizin916
Lemon cream and nut cookies, buttery shortbread ovals spread with homemade lemon curd and crowned with toasted almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, prunes, rum-soaked raisins, and candied orange. A jewel-box holiday cookie.
YIELD
35 cookiesPREP
15 minCOOK
20 minREADY
45 minThese are less a cookie than a tiny edible mosaic, the kind of ornate bite you’d find on a European holiday tray. Three elements stack up: a buttery shortbread base, a tart lemon curd, and a glittering pile of fruit and nuts on top.
The base is a rich torte pastry, more shortbread than cookie, and it needs a two-hour chill before rolling so it firms up and cuts cleanly into those little pointed ovals.
The lemon cream is a true stovetop curd: eggs, sugar, butter, and plenty of fresh lemon juice and zest cooked until it boils and thickens. That brief boil is what sets it so it holds on the cookie instead of running off.
Then comes the fun part. Each oval gets crowned with toasted almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, prune halves, rum-soaked raisins, and slivers of candied orange peel.
Pro Tips
- Chill the dough the full two hours. Warm dough is sticky, tears when rolled, and the cookies spread and lose their pointed shape.
- Stir the lemon curd constantly as it heats so the eggs thicken into silk instead of scrambling.
- Chill the lemon cream completely before assembling, or it slides right off the cookies.
- Toast the nuts first for deeper flavor and crunch against the soft curd.
Variations
- Soak the raisins in orange juice instead of rum for an alcohol-free version.
- Pare the topping down to one or two nuts for a cleaner, simpler look.
- Use lime or a mix of citrus in the cream for a different tang.
Ingredients
Directions
Torte Pastry:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, cream together butter and sugar until light.
In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg.
Pour ½ of the whisked egg into butter and sugar mixture, reserving the remaining half for another use.
Add the remaining whole egg and blend mixture well.
Remove paddle and replace with a dough hook.
Add flour, mixing thoroughly.
Form dough into a ball, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate 2 hours.
Roll dough out to a thickness of slightly more than ⅛ inch.
Cut dough into 35 1½-inch ovals with pointed ends and place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake in a preheated 350℉ (180℃) oven 15 to 20 minutes, or until cookies are a light caramel color.
Lemon Cream:
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat combine eggs, sugar, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Bring mixture to a goil, stirring continually with a wooden spoon.
Boil gently for 30 seconds.
Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover and chill thoroughly.
Assemble:
Spread each cookie with 1 heaping tablespoon of lemon cream and top with 2 prun halves, 2 almonds, 2 hazelnuts, 2 walnut halves, 7 raisins and 2 pieces candied orange peel.
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