Egg Cookies

Adorable egg cookies are perfect for Easter! My version uses a buttery shortbread cookie base and bright homemade lemon curd filling for a tasty and oh so cute sandwich cookie treat.

Course cookie, Cookies, Dessert, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 9

Chilling Time 1

Total Time 1 39

Servings cookies

Calories 167kcal

Author Sam Merritt

Equipment

Ingredients

1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
¾ cup (95 g) powdered sugar + additional for decorating
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon table salt
½ cup (120 ml) lemon curd

Instructions

Make the dough

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until smooth and creamy.
1 cup unsalted butter
Add powdered sugar and mix until sugar is completely absorbed and mixture is smooth.
¾ cup powdered sugar
Add vanilla extract and stir to combine.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt until combined.
2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, ½ teaspoon table salt
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring on low-speed until completely combined.
Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 60 minutes (see note).
When the cookie dough is finished chilling and you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Roll & cut out out the cookies

Remove dough from the refrigerator and place on a clean, lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll dough out to ⅛”-¼” (about 0.5 cm) thickness. Use your egg-shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as possible. Gather any remaining scraps into a ball and re-roll to make more cookies.
Using your circle cookie cutter, make a circular cut into half of the egg cookies (I like to make the circle cut centered in the lower half of the egg). You can reroll the circle pieces you’ve rolled out.
Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” apart (it is best to bake the cookies without cutouts on one pan, and the cookies with cutouts on a separate pan so that they will all bake evenly).
Bake in center rack of preheated 350F (175C) oven for 8-10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are just beginning to turn a light golden brown. Allow cookies to cool completely before assembling.

Assembly

Once cookies are cooled, dust all of the eggs with cutouts only with powdered sugar (I place the cookies on a piece of wax paper for easy cleanup, then use a small sifter to sift sugar all over these cookies).
Take a whole egg cookie and flip it over so the bottom is facing up. Dollop a teaspoon of lemon curd into the center.
½ cup lemon curd
Take a sugared cookie and gently but firmly settle over the lemon curd, lining up the edges of the cookies and gently pressing so they stick together. Repeat with all cookies.

Notes

Lemon curd

You can use store-bought curd or my homemade lemon curd (I prefer to use mine!). I make a full batch and save the extra curd for snacking, but you could get away with making a half batch and you’ll still have a little bit left over.

Chilling

The dough requires at least an hour of chilling before it’s rolled out, but can keep, tightly wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days before being rolled out and baked. Note that if the dough is chilled much longer than an hour it can become quite firm and may need to sit at room temperature for a bit (15-20 minutes or so) to be soft enough to be rolled without cracking.

Storing

These cookies can stay at room temperature for several hours but otherwise keep them stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Nutrition