Cooking with Kelly: Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookie Recipe

Man oh man, these monthly boxes from DegustaBox just keep getting better! I'm really psyched when mine arrives each month because it's full-sized products that I wouldn't normally purchase for myself, partly because I don't see these items at my local markets and also in part because I wouldn't know what to do with it. What I love about this subscription box service is that there's a chef's choice each month highlight an option, along with an extensive print out that lists a description for each product, along with the retail price.

When I got this month's box last week (moving and mail forwarding is hard), I immediately honed in on the lemon curd. I love it so hard, but haven't had it since I hosted a Royal Wedding Watch Party. I know, totally nerdy. I haven't made it since because I feel like it's a lot of work.

So when I saw this gleaming deliciousness, thumbprint cookies immediately came to mind. These cookies are basically a tender butter-laden shortbread cookie used as a delivery system for jam. In my case, I swapped that out and used curd instead. The acid of the lemon curd helps cut through the richness of the butter cookie. Plus the velvety natural of lemon curd is a great partner to crumby cookie.

These are so easy to make, and you can make the cookie ahead of time and assembly pretty quickly for fresh cookies in under 25 minutes.

Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookie Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup lemon curd

Using the whisk attachment on your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until lighter in color and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, then mix to combine. Slowly, add the dry ingredients in batches and mix until just combined.

Roll the dough out into a disk and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour to combine.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Create 1 Tablespoon-sized balls of dough and place on the baking sheet. Using your thumb or the back of a spoon, create wells in each cookie. Place a quarter to a half a teaspoon of lemon curd in each well, making sure not to overfill.

Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the tray and bake for another six minutes or until golden brown.