Citrus Curd Linzer Cookies

• servings: 16 servings
• total time: 3 hours

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 2/3 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)

2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1 Tbsp milk

1/2 tsp lime zest

1/2 tsp Meyer lemon zest

1/2 tsp orange zest

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice

1 Tbsp orange juice

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

Cook butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until it foams, turns clear, and then turns a deep brown, about 6 minutes. Pour browned butter into a large mixer bowl and let cool slightly. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Add sugar and vanilla bean paste to mixer bowl with brown butter. Beat at medium speed for 1 minute, until well combined. Beat in egg yolks. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture just until incorporated. Add milk and mix on low speed until dough comes together in large pieces. Divide dough in half and scrape out onto two pieces of plastic wrap. Shape dough into disks and wrap well. Chill until firm enough to roll easily, about 1 1/2 hours.

While dough chills, make the citrus curd. Whisk together citrus zest, citrus juice, sugar, salt, and egg in a heavy saucepan. Cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened. Add butter a few pieces at a time, whisking constantly until melted, before adding more butter. Continue until curd is smooth and thickened, and coats the back of a spoon (about 5 minutes total). Strain curd through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Press a piece of plastic directly on the surface, and chill until cold – at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper. Roll out one disk of dough to just shy of 1/4-inch thick on a well floured board, rotating dough frequently to keep from sticking (if dough is too cold to roll easily, let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes). Use a floured 2 1/4-inch fluted biscuit cutter to cut out cookies. Gather scraps, re-roll, and cut until you have 16 cookies. Repeat with remaining disk of dough; use a floured 1-inch round cutter to remove centers from 16 cookies. Place cookies on baking sheets and chill for 15 minutes.

Bake, rotating pans halfway through, for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden and edges are set. Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Turn over whole cookies and pipe about 1 teaspoon citrus curd in the center of each cookie (or use an offset spatula). Dust cutout cookies with powdered sugar and sandwich cookies together. Store leftover cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

https://tutti-dolci.com/citrus-curd-linzer-cookies/