Lemon Cream Cookies for Jill
As I told you in my last post, my best friend Jill and her son Connor are staying with us for a few days. For years now, Jill has been obsessed with anything citrus, particularly lemons. She lives in Colorado so she never really gets to taste anything I make, but when she reads on my blog that I made something with lemon or even lemon and pistachio, I get a text message saying “you are killing me!”.
Jill loves the lemon cream shortbreads that Whole Foods sells under their Bakery line. It’s her little addiction, so of course, when we went to Whole Foods a couple of days ago, she had to get a box. I wanted to explain to her that those can be so easy to make and even wanted to challenge her to do a blind tasting between my lemon cream cookies and them.
Even C. got involved. I placed the store-bought cookies on one plate and mine on another. It only took two bites and they made up their minds. You can imagine the rest. Oh… these two really know how to make me happy!
The filling is swiss buttercream that is flavored with lemon zest, lemon oil and sandwiched between two lemon spritz cookies. The cookies are piped into rosettes and baked to a light golden brown. They are very buttery and crumbly and in my opinion, they get better the following day.
Lemon Spritz Cookies
110 grams butter, room temperature
90 grams sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp lemon oil
Zest of 1 lemon
180 grams flour
2 grams salt
Cream the butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon oil together until well combined. Add the yolks and mix until combined. Add the flour and salt and mix.
Place the soft dough into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe rosettes onto a sheetpan lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 350F for about 12 minutes or until lightly golden.
Let them cool completely and fill with the lemon buttercream.
Lemon Buttercream
75 grams egg whites
150 grams sugar
225 grams butter, room temperature
Zest of 2 lemons
1/2 tsp lemon oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over a double boiler. Whisk the egg whites and sugar until the sugar starts to melt and the egg whites appear very white and light, almost like a light marshmallow. It should be very hot to the touch.
Remove the bowl from the heat and place in electric mixer. Whip until meringue forms and the bowl feels cool.
Add the softened butter one tablespoon at a time. Add the juice, oil and zest. It might appear as the buttercream is separating. Continue whipping until it comes together.
Post Script- I am so sorry to be missing this month’s Daring Bakers challenge. I have been so busy… lame excuse, I know. I will be here next month though. I promise. Please check out what other DBers have been up to.
Absolutely lovely and thoroughly tempting! Wonderful that your best friend gets to enjoy every crumb.
Oh, and I also wanted to say: lots of love and my very, very best wishes to Connor.
Aran, these are just beautiful! And quite simple too…thanks for sharing the recipe!
So pretty and delicious!
Cheers,
Rosa
You are such a great friend. These are beautiful!
Lemons are like chocolate and berries…can’t ever get enough and feel utterly deprived without!!
Yum!
All my best to Jill and Connor.
these look divine….i love anything lemony
thanks xx
These cookies looking good! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I’ll definately like.
Those look so good! Lemon is wonderful in cookies.
To a very gifted Stylist,
I now understand where most of our new food stylists get there inspiration from. You… and I’m sure they have been trying to keep you a secret.
I worked for many years with Vogue Entertaining Guide in Australia and have styled many a food shoot over the years. I love and adore your images, I’m sure you hear that from many people every day.
You have such a wonderful eye and your food images show your true personality. I would love to meet you one day.
You are obviously watched and copied by the best of the best out there in the U.S.
Next time I pick up a Martha mag I’ll know where they got their ideas from, I can see where a few of our local mags got ideas as well.
I have been blogging for a year and I have only just found your site this week. My goodness, imagine what else is out there.
I will be dropping by often,
Coty Farquhar, Australia
Of course, I have added your link to my Beautiful Stylist List.
Jo Aran, que preciosidad!!!. Me recuerda tanto a las pastas del escaparate de Ayarza. Aunque has rizado el rizo… De pequeña creo que llegué a comer una tonelada de harinados, mi favorita entonces (aquella grande,redonda y blanca que hacían). Se me está cayendo la baba. Que suerte ha tenido Jill…
lemonjillies
Great recipe, fantastic blog, very stylish indeed.
I was waiting for it…
Coty- You are too kind but I would never say I am copied. We all draw inspiration from others, just like I do from Martha Stewart, Donna Hay, Marie Claire, Vogue… It is never ending. Influences are inevitable but I think it’s important is to add our own touch to things and make them our own. Thank you for your words.
Ines- las pastas de Ayarza si que son ricas… los harinadosy las saladas. Ai ama!!!
Thank you everyone!
Helen and Gayle- Connor is doing great by the way. He is responding really well to the treatment and is being such a sport about the long days!
I loves citrus flavour and this biscuits lokk so yummy ;D
What a wonderful gift for your friend! I love how sunny they look, and I’m always a sucker for spritz-type cookies.
Jill is quite lucky!! I’d love to have a friend make those for me :-D
OH that last picture!!!!
La verdad, parecen deliciosas! Tienen aspecto de pastas… :)
Aran, you’re not killing only Jill with your posts about lemony stuff ;) These are truly gorgeous and they seem so easy (or so you make them seem). I’ll have to try them soon, thanks!
these look amazing, Aran…gorgeous as usual! My best hopes to Jill and Connor!
they look like tiny lemon kisses!
hey, if oyu ever need taste testers again, i;’m right here in brooklyn!! these look heavenly aran! and now i’m craving lemon too…
These look so delicate Aran, perfect for afternoon tea!
Thanks and keep enjoying the visit with your best friend :)
Oh my. These are luscious. I am a big sucker for anything lemon too…I get it from my Mom!
These are beautiful! I have a huge bag of lemons just calling me. Many lemon desserts have been made in our house the past months. Can’t get enough of it!
I seriously am without words every time I visit your blog. I was just telling a friend of mine as we are part of your Cannelle et Vanille fan club, (smile) that your blog is as beautiful as it is yummy. So, I am going to challenge her to make the cookies and I will too. I will post on my blog and will tag you so you can go take a look-see. Hopefully they will turn out divine and all will end up well with the world. I am a designer so I might be best put to use in designing packaging for your products,…, smile!!!! I love to bake though so, try I will to make this yumminess anyway. This is a perfect sunshine treat for all the rain we have in Georgia presently!
Sorry for such a long comment.
Have a beautiful weekend!
I love delicate, crispy spritz cookies! I’ve been wanting to make some similar melting moments for a while, but I keep forgetting to get piping bags…
These look delicious! I must try them!
These look AMAZING. I love lemon cookies so much! I am very upset that I am going away tomorrow so won’t get to try these until I get home next weekend…
What beautiful lcookies! They sound so refreshing and springy
I love lemon and these look soo good. I had to miss the DB Challenge this month too. I’m doing some freelancing and this has been a very busy month. Great post as always.
I just finished my box of Girl Scout Lemon Chalets and thought…”I need to figure out how to make these myself”.
What great timing! Thank you, and yours by the way, are so much prettier.
my mom used to order a little book monthly called “la palabra diaria”, which contained religious little inspirations for every day of the month. i do the same except its more like i religiously log in to your site for little inspirations. keep up the good work! -Camille
um…yum! Gorgeous pictures too :)
Lucky friend…those look delicious!
Wow! Simply stunning!
These are absolutly gorgeous! I will be bookmarking this to make soon! Thanks for sharing!
Lovely cookies & pictures :-)!
I really like the swirl on your cookies! Very fun… even though I’ve seen it done before (in manufactured cookies), it looks so new, refreshing, and innovative in your photographs. Well done!
Oh my! These little gems are breathtaking. Bravo!!
I showed this post to my little sister and she ordered: “copy the recipe”. So somehow I’ve thought it’s ime I left a comment as well. I’ve been reading your blog for a while and I have to say I love your photography and baking skills. I’m an amateur baker myself and have been going through an inspiration crisis recently, that is: until I found your blog. Now I no longer have problems with inspiration, although these lemon cookies might be the first thing I’ve seen here that I will actually bake!
Too gorgeous – I will be making these this weekend! Thanks.
Question: I never bake with lemon – I don’t love the taste, but I’m willing to try! Where do you get lemon oil? Is it in a little bottle (like vanilla extract) at the grocery store or do you need to go somewhere special. Sorry for the goofy question.
K Line- lemon oil is more potent than plain lemon extract. Usually, it’s found in food specialty shops rather than regular grocery stores. In any case, you could also use extract if that was the only thing available but make sure it’s good quality.
Thank you guys!
Hi Aran! I couldn’t find lemon oil so I’m using extract. But I have a question: Do I have to make any modification to the récipe or do I use the same cuantities?
Thank you so much
“you are killing me” is right!! delici!
I’m very big on meyer lemons, and these look perfectly lovely–thank you!
So….has anyone actually made these? Wanted to know the outcome since they look so good!
I made these today and they were yuuuummy, I’ve mentioned you in my blog, I hope it’s alright! I blogged about these biscuits on my blog cutiepieohmeohmy.blogspot.com, so if you want, do check it out :)
those look great. you inspire me to want to bake!
oh my gosh those are so cute! they totally kick girl scouts in the butt.
i was just writing at Tartelette how i love the little “human” props in photos–arms, hips, shadows–and then you have hands too!! i have been mucking around with different shots lately. ooooh. body food. good idea. hehe.
cute striped bowls by the way :)
So, Aran, will you share the name of your favorite food specialty shop? Give us a direction of where to go in other parts of the country, please!
My lemon trees are just about to blossom, and my lemons are all gone for now–and lemons sound so delicious right now!
If all goes well and the bees do their jobs, and the little hands at my house (all 10 of them!) can keep from picking the lemons for the next 7 months, I will have many meyer lemons come the end of the year.
C’est magnifique et gourmand
Como las hiciste para Jill deduzco que son sin gluten. Que harina utilizaste? Es una mezcla hecha por tí o alguna marca que se comercializa en los EEUU específica para celiacos?
Todo lo que tocan tus manos se convierte en magia, no me extraña la multitud de halagos que recibes.
Eres la mejor. Yo sabía que Jill estaba en las mejores manos. Por cierto! me alegro de que esté mejor.
Besitos sin gluten
these cookies look delicious and so cute!
Must try some at home!
Ohhh! Yumm yummy and as usual wonderful capture :)
if only my food came out as nice as yours !
They’re so pretty!
I don’t know how they taste, but I love your photography, staging and stylizing.
Zerogluten- No, no son sin gluten. Jill no hace la dieta sin gluten sino su hijo Connor. Jill lo hizo durante annos pero ahora ya no. El problema con Connor no es solo el gluten sino tambien la caseina (productos lacteos) y la soja, asi que es bastante complicado para hacer postres.
Anonymous- Jaslyn blogged about them at cutiepieohmeohmy.blogspot.com
Jaslyn- Thank you so much!
Prudent Homemaker- I got this lemon oil at Sur La Table.
Thank you everyone!
these are a perfect spring treat. and what a lovely friend you are. i’d participate in that taste test any time! xo.
it’s great to be spending time with friends, but even better when you can serve them treats that you know they love :) i don’t doubt that yours were ten times better than whole foods’ cookies!
THESE COOKIES LOOK SO NICE AND THEY MUST BE SO SO GOOD. I LOVE CITRUS.
yum yum yumminess.
i just bookmarked you.
oxoxo,
jessi
lovely, gonna try that soon.
http://chaokar.blogspot.com
Gorgeous, Aran!
They look so dainty and yummy
I’ve been on a quest to bake the perfect batch of shortbread of late, so I’m thankful for this recipe! Most of the shortbread recipes I’ve seen so far does not contain eggs, so it’ll be interesting to see what the addition of eggs will do to the cookies. Beautiful photos, as always!
These look scrumptious!! Super yummy. Now that the weather’s warmed I’ve been CRAVING lemon. Do you find it’s easy to get lemon oil the grocery store?
Erin- Not sure of regular grocery stores carry lemon oil. I got mine at Sur La Table and I’m sure places like Whole Foods might have it also. Specialty shops are more likely to carry items like these.
Thank you!
What a good friend you are & how lucky Jill is.These are amazing…the the pictures are just gorgeous!
I was so excited that you posted s recipe that I could whip up easily! I made these this weekend and they were AMAZING!
However, I have a ton of filling/frosting left. Any ideas how to use it?
kaixo Aran!
Itxura bikaina dute pastek, eta baita argazkiek ere! Hemnedik zailagoa da limoi olioa bezelako produktuak aurkitzea, limoi extraktuarekin egingo dut proba oraingoz. izugarri gustatzen zaizkit zitrikoak!
Katie- you can use the leftover buttercream as a filling for macarons, as icing for cupcakes, inside a layered cake with maybe raspberry jam, … so many things! Glad you liked them!
I want these — — I want these now!!!
If I were to see a shooting star at this moment, I’d wish to switch places with Jill :-) These are so lovely!
How nice of you to make cookies for your friend! Hope you all are having a lovely visit. I’m a big fan of lemon cookies, too–my favorites as a kid were Lemon Coolers from the grocery store (Sunshine brand). My adult favorite is now these guys!
Vous êtes une vraie magicienne****
Gorgeous cookies, and so perfect for Spring. I love lemon anything. What a great friend you are.
Tienen un aspecto realmente delicioso, cómo me gustaría probar una.
how beautiful…my 2 and a half year old daughter starts preschool tomorrow and she is supposed to take a snack…I wanted to send something sweet and special (along with the healthy fruit she will be getting) and this looks perfect.
Thank you!
How nice of you to make them for your friend- I’m sure she was thrilled. I have friends who live far away & often comment how they’re sad they can never taste treats on my blog!
These are lovely treats!
Those look amazing. I love the look of the piped cookies, so I think these will be the next cookies on my list after I finish the ones in the jar!
lovely as always, Aran. Just a quick question, are these like ‘melting moments’ cookies?
Nikki- not sure what melting moments cookies are. Can you explain?
the cookie swirls look so nice! and lemon cream, oh my. thanks for the recipe :)
Wow these look sooo much better than the melting moments I just posted. I’m thinking I might try to pipe them next time.
Hi Aran, very nice pictures as always, thanks.
Is there any special reason you choose swiss buttercream over italian or french?
thanks
Nico- you cannot really use french meringue to make buttercream. not as stable and egg whites would be raw. i find that swiss buttercream is quicker and easier than italian to make. no need to cook the sugar to a certain temperature, etc. so that’s basically why.
Thanks!
Aran, thanks for the answer. I was talking about a pate a bombe buttercream, which I always call french buttercream, sorry. I found that one richer than the italian and swiss, so I thought the cookies could be even tastier using the pate a bomb buttercream, what do you think?
thanks
Nico- richer for sure. you could definitely use that though. try it and let me know!
Aran, those cookies are just divine!
I tried the recipe yesterday, and I just couldn’t stop eating them as long as my little cousins!
The though after baked is so crumbly and tasty and the cream is so fresh and soft… YUM!
You photograph beautifully!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
******
Joana
Ups, “as long”… I meant “as well”. Sorry, I’m still a bit sleepy! LOL
Oh, how perfectly cute and sweet those are!
These are lovely, lovely. I am getting ready to make them to take to a friend’s house tomorrow night (my turn to bring dessert!) and am wondering which star tip you used to pipe the cookies.
Also, for anyone interested: I’ve seen lemon oil at Williams-Sonoma, too.
Lara- this is a number 5 star tip. Thanks!
hi!i just made some of those but it was no where as comparable and i didnt like the taste of it very much:( I am thinking if it has sth to do with the fact that i substituted lemon oil by just shaving zest and immersing it into the oil? and they were sooo hard to pipe!:( they were pretty “oily” too. sighhh. what did i do wrong?:( maybe i will try to get some lemon oil (dont know where i can find them here) and try this again. i am a big lemon fan! ha.
anyway, yours look vvvvv fantastic and i love your blog v much:)
have a great easter sunday:)
Chocolatecup- sorry to hear that! They can be a bit hard to pipe if you don’t have practice but they shouldn’t be impossible. What did you mean you dipped them in oil? They shouldn’t be oily at al either. You can make them without lemon oil if you cannot find it but of course it adds a lot. You can find lemon oil at Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table or any specialty shop.
they werent all hard to pipe. the first few were ok. then subsequently the batter became very oily like oil was oozing out. then it was kinda ‘in-pipeable’. what i mean by ‘dipping them in oil’ is that i put zest of a lemon into a bowl olive oil to substitute lemon oil. oh and i live in Asia so i think i need to source out places here that sell them!
maybe i will try these out again! i will try to see if the bowl of lemon zest in the olive oil when left for a day is better!
:)
Chocolate cup- lemon oil is not made from infusing vegetable oil with lemon though. lemon oil is the oil that is extracted directly from the zest of the lemon. it is a bit pricey for that reason but very fragrant. the batter should not be oily at all. not sure what happened. let me know what happens next time.
Here is a link to one
http://www.amazon.com/Lemon-Oil-Pure-5-oz/dp/B0006Q5OAY
oooh!the batter wasnt oily when i started piping but as i piped, oil started oozing out in the piping bag?hmm. i am thinking cos its really humid in my kitchen and maybe the tip i use was a bit too small! i will prob order tt lemon oil will post a link to my blog if they look as nice as yours!:) thanks:)
Mine did this too. The first ones were fine but the latter ones oozed oil/butter when baking. I’m pretty sure the dough warmed too much from my hands as I struggled to pipe them. The butter probably needs to remain somewhat cool before going into the oven. I think I’ll invest in a cookie spritzer gun :)
Can you use Lemon Extract in place of Lemon Oil? :)
Zahra- yes, you can. they are different products but i know lemon oil can be hard to find at times. the purpose is to add more lemon flavor. Thanks!
I adore your blog and in celebration of finishing my exams I made these cookies. They were delightful! Thanks so much for the beautiful pictures and tasty recipes!
I have made spritz cookied filled with lemon glaze. However, I made spritz dogh without egg yolks. What’s the advantage of using egg yolks in spritz dough?
See my recipe.
Karin- you can certainly make them that way and i’m sure they turn out beautifully. i find that egg yolks add a more delicate and “crumby” or sandy texture to the cookies though. but both options should work. thanks.
Your lemon swiss buttercreamwas really good, a keeper. I made it for the cookies and had enough left over to frost 12 Whipped Brown Butter cupcakes from Kate Zuckerman The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle. I brought some to work — another baker raved about the buttercream. I used the zest of three very small lemons, the zest of two meyer lemons and Grand Marnier. Kept in the fridge and eyeballing it, I took some to warm to room temperature and had enough for 11 cupcakes,.
I made these as a gift for my mother and my mother in law for Mothers Day. They LOVED them, as did I! This recipe was fantastic and was not too difficult at all! The lemon filling was to die for! It was so smooth with just the right amount of lemon flavour!
Made these today – they taste delicious, but the fell flat during baking. Any ideas as to what might cause that to happen?
Jen- did they spread turning out flat or did they rise, keep their shape but then deflated? Not sure. Did you measure all ingredients in a scale?
They just spread out, turning flat. I did measure everything in a scale.
Jen- not sure… these are pretty straight forward. usually when there is too much spreading happening is either because too much liquid was added such as eggs, or not enough flour or too much sugar. I’d have to watch you make them because there is really nothing tricky about these. How did the batter feel when you piped them? Was it rather dry and hard to pipe (as they are supposed to be) or was it soft? Sorry I’m not much help…
Aran, it started out hard to pipe but the batter softened up quite a bit pretty quickly. Could have been the level of humidity in my kitchen or something of that nature. In any case, good to know that the dough should be on the dry side because next time, I can correct it if it turns out too soft. Thanks for answering!
Jen- not sure what it could be then. Maybe too much creaming of the butter and sugar can create that too but not sure if that was it too. retry it and let me know what happened. sorry!
Hi. I also love spritz cookies. the ones in the picture looks so pretty. Then I tried the recipe, changed nothing. However it did not turn out as good as yours. The dough is so hard to pipe. I used the same mount of butter and floor. What did I do wrong? How can I save it? It is sitting in the fridge right now.
Thanks
Bridget
Bridget- The dough is a bit hard to pipe but shouldn’t be impossible to pipe it. It’s better that way because it holds it’s shape after baked. Don’t put it in the fridge, because it will be REALLY hard to pipe because the butter will solidify. if you scaled the recipe right then not sure what might have happened…
Hi
I love to try that recipe. I have been looking for a lemon cream biscuit recipe for some time. I going to by butter and lemons today !
How does the lemon cream turn out? I have never seen a one based on egg whites and butter.
I have this 1950’s metal construction that forms spritz cookies; any kind of fairly soft cookie dough.
Tintin- it is a swiss buttercream flavored with lemon. very very good and creamy. try it!
I just made these a present for my brother-in-law and they’re as good as you say! I found the dough pretty stiff though, so added a little soured cream to loosen it so I could pipe it.
Somewhere I read to use the Wilton star tip – #5? I looked at the Wilton display yesterday and there were lots of star tips, but not a #5 – 14, 16, 18, etc. Any ideas on which to use? Many thanks!
Hi, I realize this was posted about 2 years ago but I hope you can answer my question: Why did my lemon butter cream filling turn out runny? I followed it step by step but the more I added butter the runnier it got, so I stopped about halfway through. I did let the meringue come to very stiff peaks and let it cool so it would not melt the butter.
I used lemon oil and used a scale to measure out everything into grams for precision. Yet, at just half the butter added, it was really runny. (Runny as in – when I dipped a spoon in it and poured out what I scooped up, it had a steady stream that flowed back into the bowl). Any clues as to why?
I am thinking it might have to do with the temperature of the sugar and egg whites while beating it over the stove top….but I’m not sure.
I am so happy to know your blog, it is so pretty¡¡¡ Me han fascinado estas pastas, voy a intentar hacerlas. No he entendido bien si en la elaboración de la crema hay que calentar el azúcar y los huevos al baño maria. Y lemon oil, lo haces tu? es un aceite con zumo de limon? Perdona por tantas preguntas. Thank you very much for your delicious recipes, congratulations.
Is it possible for you to convert and list your measurements to a standard form that is not Metric? Thanks!
Can you convert the ingredient list to cups, tsp, Tbsp? I stink at conversions!
Can I substitue lemon oil with lemon juice. I can’t get lemon oil.
i would use lemon zest not juice.
Hi Aran – I can’t wait to try these!! I have been tryng to stay gluten free for some time now and was wondering if you could recommend a gluten-free flour that would be good as a replacement to wheat flour.
It calls for 180 grams of ap flour so I would do
105 g (3/4 cup) superfine brown rice flour
50 g (1/2 cup) almond flour
25 g (3 tbs) cornstarch
It’s stiff to pipe so don’t be scared but that is what keeps the shape after baked. Keep pressure with your hands close to he tip. Hope you like them.
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I was so ready to make these and love them, but I ended up using double the amount of butter by mistake! I will have to re-write this in measurements I am familiar with for another try.
I happened on your site thru Pinterest; pinning recipes that intrigued me. I saw your cookies and so wanted to try them. The gram weight doesn’t faze me much, I have a scale, but the lemon oil. And then I thought maybe that’s European for extract. Well I checked. Extract is oil of lemon and alcohol, which you probably know. Will it work as a substitute, I’ve never really seen the oil in any grocery stores. If I must use the oil maybe I can find a source online. Also as I read about you on your site, I noticed you eat gluten free, but the cookie recipe has flour. Is that intended to be a gluten free four or does it matter. I’d like very much to cut back on my gluten since I believe it helps with inflammation but I’m definitely a novice when it comes to baking. Thanks for the delightful recipe. I have a feeling it will become a favorite.