These lemon thumbprint cookies are a lemon lovers’ dream cookie! Enjoy sweet, soft lemon sugar cookies filled with lemon curd and drizzled with lemon icing. I like to make the lemon curd from scratch because the flavor is superior (honestly, it’s just so good!), but feel free to use store-bought. Instead of lemon curd, you can substitute raspberry, strawberry, or apricot preserves/jam.
One reader, Stacey, commented: “My family and I love everything lemon, so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. This recipe is absolutely delicious—a true treat of sweet and sour! This recipe will be making its way into my cookie rotation for many years to come! ★★★★★“
A sunny burst of citrus is just the thing to brighten up a gray winter day and add a pop of unexpected flavor to a holiday cookie tray. Among the deep dark flavors of chocolate and spice, like gingerbread cookies, Andes mint chocolate cookies, or chocolate ginger sparkle cookies, these lemon thumbprints shine like twinkly lights in the night. 😉
Loads of Lemon
These lemon thumbprints are flavored with real lemon all the way through, from the cookie dough to the lemon curd filling to the icing on top. Fresh lemon juice and zest are key to all that flavor.
There are 3 parts to these lemon thumbprint cookies:
- Buttery, vanilla bean-speckled lemon sugar cookie dough
- Creamy, tangy lemon curd (homemade or store-bought)
- 2-ingredient lemon icing
Make the Homemade Lemon Curd First
Have you made lemon curd before? It’s delicious on so many dessert recipes, like atop this lemon cheesecake or pavlova. You can use store-bought lemon curd in these cookies in a pinch, but I encourage you to try making it from scratch—it’s surprisingly easy, takes just 10 minutes on the stove, and tastes so much better!
I have a complete separate page dedicated to homemade lemon curd, with a video tutorial to help. It’s just 5 ingredients: egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter.
- Tip: I recommend making it ahead of time, so it has plenty of time to cool completely. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 10 days, so you can make it well in advance of making these lemon thumbprint cookies.
You could also play around with flavors and try filling the lemon thumbprints with fruit jam, like I use in these peanut butter & jam thumbprint cookies.
Here’s What You Need for These Lemon Thumbprint Cookies:
As a point of reference, I based this cookie dough off my recipe for butter cookies. Like a shortbread cookie, there’s no leavening agent, but—unlike shortbread—there is an egg, which makes the thumbprints less crumbly. Grab these ingredients:
- Butter: Creamed butter makes up the base of these cookies.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the tart lemon in the dough, and we’ll roll the dough into sugar for a little extra sparkle.
- Lemon Zest + Juice: Remember to zest the lemon before slicing it and juicing it—it’s a lot harder the other way around!
- Egg: One egg provides softness and richness.
- Vanilla Bean Paste: You could use pure vanilla extract instead, but I really love the extra flavor the vanilla bean in the paste gives these lemon thumbprints.
- Flour: All-purpose flour gives the dough structure.
- Cornstarch: A little cornstarch makes for extra-soft cookies; it’s an ingredient in these soft chocolate chip cookies, too.
- Salt: A little salt balances the sweet and amplifies the lemon and vanilla flavors.
Make the Lemon Cookie Dough & Chill
The dough comes together quickly with an electric mixer, which is required for creaming the butter and sugar together.
This creamy dough needs to chill for at least 3 hours before it’s ready to be rolled and shaped.
How to Shape & Fill Lemon Thumbprints
Once the dough has chilled, you can shape the cookies. Scoop the dough with a Tablespoon and then roll the dough into balls. Roll the cookie dough balls in granulated sugar before placing on a baking sheet.
Use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each cookie dough ball, then spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd into each. Bake the cookies for about 12–13 minutes.
Optional Lemon Icing Is the Icing on the… Cookies
While it’s entirely optional, I love these cookies with a drizzle of icing on top. It’s just that little something extra that makes them look like you bought them from a fancy bakery. Plus, it tastes fantastic!
You need just 2 ingredients: confectioners’ sugar and fresh lemon juice. Whisk it together until smooth, and drizzle it on the cooled cookies. I used a squeeze bottle to apply this sweet finishing touch, but you can simply use a spoon or fork.
The icing sets in about 30 minutes or so, and then you can stack and store the cookies.
You need about 1/2 cup (140g) of lemon curd. If using homemade, I recommend making the whole recipe for homemade lemon curd. You can freeze the leftover lemon curd for up to 3-6 months, or enjoy on yogurt, toast, waffles/pancakes, biscuits, and scones.
Yes, you can absolutely skip the lemon curd. Instead, try raspberry, apricot, or strawberry preserves/jam. Keep in mind that the lemon flavor won’t be as strong without the lemon curd, so I recommend keeping the lemon icing on top. (For that pop of lemon flavor!)
If you want even more lemon flavor in your cookies, feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract to the cookie dough when you add the vanilla bean paste.
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Lemon Thumbprints
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 40 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 36-40 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Sweet, soft lemon thumbprints are filled with lemon curd and drizzled with lemon icing. Instead of homemade lemon curd, you can use store-bought; or substitute raspberry, strawberry, or apricot preserves/jam. This is a very soft and creamy butter cookie dough, so refrigerating it before shaping is imperative. A quick chill after shaping as the oven preheats is helpful, too.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 14 Tablespoons (200g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (see Note)
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
Coating & Filling
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (140g) homemade lemon curd or store-bought
Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and salt until combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla bean paste and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. The wet ingredients will look curdled, but will smooth out when you add the dry ingredients. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Dough will be very creamy. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, and up to 3 days. Chilling is imperative for this soft dough.
- Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Make room in the refrigerator for baking sheets, so the shape cookies can chill as the oven preheats in step 7.
- Shape & coat the dough: Place granulated sugar in a small bowl. Scoop cold dough (about 1 Tablespoon (18g) of dough each) and roll into balls. Roll each dough ball in granulated sugar and place 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets.
- Fill the cookies: Use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each cookie dough ball. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon curd.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Place baking sheets with unbaked cookies in the refrigerator while the oven preheats. (Or transfer all cookies to 1 baking sheet, or a few plates, if your refrigerator doesn’t have room. I recommend chilling the shaped cookies for a few minutes, to prevent over-spreading.)
- Once oven preheats, bake shaped cookies for 12–13 minutes, or until edges appear set and are very lightly beginning to brown. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the icing: In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over cooled cookies. (You can use a spoon or fork for this, or a squeeze bottle.) Icing will set at room temperature after about 30 minutes, and then you can stack, store, transport, and gift the cookies.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Unbaked shaped cookie dough balls (that are not coated in sugar and filled with curd) freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw for 30 minutes, and then coat in sugar, carefully indent and fill, and then bake. See this post on how to freeze cookie dough for more information and a video tutorial. Baked and cooled cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Vanilla Bean Paste | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Sheets | Cooling Rack | Squeeze Bottle (optional for drizzling icing)
- Butter: The dough recipe calls for 14 Tablespoons (200g) of butter, so not quite 1 full cup. In testing, the cookies overspread when using a full cup (2 sticks/226g) of butter.
- Vanilla: I love using vanilla bean paste in these cookies because it combines both extract AND vanilla bean seeds, and adds extra flavor. You can, of course, use pure vanilla extract instead. If you want that extra vanilla bean flavor, feel free to add the seeds scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean. (This is in addition to the liquid vanilla extract.)
- Lemon Curd: You need about 1/2 cup (140g) of lemon curd. I recommend making the whole recipe for homemade lemon curd. You can freeze the leftover lemon curd for up to 3-6 months, or enjoy on yogurt, toast, waffles/pancakes, biscuits, and scones.
- Instead of Lemon Curd: Instead or lemon curd, try raspberry, apricot, or strawberry preserves/jam. Keep in mind that the lemon flavor won’t be as strong without the lemon curd, so I recommend keeping the lemon icing on top. (For that pop of lemon flavor!)
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I have been baking for 50 years and this is definitely the best cookie I have ever made or eaten. Turned out perfectly. The lemon curd is fabulous!!!!
I love almost all of your recipes! I followed your recipe for these lemon thumbprint cookies precisely and still they spread and were lacey around the edges. Flavor was spot on. Not sure what happened. I chilled for 4 hours, rolled them, sugared them, put them back in the fridge for a few mins and then baked at 350. Not sure if anyone else had this problem. Just thought I would share my experience. Going to make your Gingerbread snack cake for Christmas!
My favorite new lemon cookie! Made sure to chill well between as recipe called for. I did not put the ic8ng on – they are plenty sweet already imo.
Per others’ comments, I did extra chilling. They still completely spread out to a solid thin yellow sheet. Extremely disappointed in this recipe. Total waste of time & ingredients. ☹️
(This recipe is completely fabulous, see prior review!) I have a follow on questions – The lemon curd is jaw dropping delicious. Could I double it (or triple?) and use it in a lemon tart? Or, gasp, a lemon meringue pie? FYI – I’ve never been a big lemon fan, but this cookie recipe has converted me.
Hi Stephanie, I’m so glad that you enjoy the lemon curd! The curd won’t hold very nice shape when baked into a tart or pie. Instead, try the filling from my lemon meringue pie recipe.
Thanks – will do! BTW – to a person, everyone raved about these cookies. I put them in the cookie trays for neighbors and sent them to work with my husband. I am looking forward to making them again and again.
These cookies tasted so good, but I could not keep the curd inside the thumbprint. The curd kept bubbling out, and it was not a pretty yellow, but a white foamy color. I don’t know if the curd was too thin, possibly? Would love some feedback. I really would like to try them again!
Were you using the homemade curd or store-bought? If store-bought, what brand? I’d love to take note of this just in case there’s a certain brand that isn’t working. The curd could have been too thin. Was it cold? I wonder if heating it on the stove with a teaspoon of cornstarch to help thicken it would help. OR you can use orange jam/preserves instead of curd.
These were delicious! Definitely a winner for anyone who likes a tart lemon flavor. Chilling the dough at multiple stages is definitely the name of the game. I chilled the dough after I prepared it, after rolling the balls (but before coating in sugar and making the thumb imprint), and again while the oven preheated/other batches were in the oven. With two small kids, it was a multi day project for me, but a fun one with tasty results. And I’d definitely recommend going the homemade curd route!
Hi fellow Marylander! These cookies are so incredibly delicious and (as you stated) a bright spot In the Christmas Cookie Gift Box. I will make these every year going forward…
I am a newbie baker, so I thank you for the detailed and careful instructions, the pictures and the videos. This is the first time in, well, decades, that I have had the energy to bake at Christmas time. I almost didn’t make these because there are quite a lot of steps for someone like me – and more steps means more opportunities to screw up the recipe. But your recipe made it absolutely achievable. Thanks so much for putting this into my repertoire. I am trying a number of your other recipes – all of them have been very, very, yummy!
Another awesome recipe!
This recipe is perfection as long as you chill and chill some more! I made the dough, weighed the balls, rolled them in sugar, made the impressions (I used a silicone wine cork), filled them with blueberry preserves, and then refrigerated them overnight. They baked up beautifully the next day. When cool I drizzled them with the lemon juice/confectioners sugar. I used Bon Maman Wild Blueberry Preserves and boiled it to concentrate the flavor and thicken its consistency. I can’t wait to try this recipe using orange and fill with with the blood orange curd I made! Thanks!!!
I tried these cookies for the first time. Taste is amazing but they spread, does not look nice. I was thinking that i did something wrong or it could be the flour as it may create difference but i see others have the spreading issue too. Thank for the recipe anyway 🙂
Hey Sally, We loved the receipe but I will say, I need to try them again. They spread out quite a bit and the curd overflowed the thumbprint, I think I need to make the print deeper and smaller to compensate or do a bigger cookie then the 18g. I’m wondering if 21-22g would be better since I did a few bigger ones and those ones came out perfectly. Either way thanks for the recipe I will be attempting these again.
Hi Steven! A bigger cookie will allow for more curd filling, or, using less curd will prevent them from overflowing. Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I have made many of your recipes and loved them and had no problems. However I made the lemon thumbprint twice. The dough turned out very dry, much like Russian tea cakes. Hopefully you can tell me what I did wrong.
Hi Karen! Usually dry cookie dough is caused by too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Made these yesterday. I froze the formed cookie dough for 30 min and they still spread. After chilling the baked cookies overnight I proceeded to glaze them with a squeeze bottle – the glaze did not hold in the pretty lines- it sunk and Spread into the cookie ? Any suggestions?
Hi Nancy! The glaze can be made thicker by adding more powdered sugar.
I had the same issue with the glaze. Very shortly after drizzling lines from a squeeze bottle, the icing quickly merged together. Next time I will use 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar to 2T lemon juice. After testing on one cookie, I will thin as needed.
This is the second best recipe on your site (next to lemon curd). Yes these take some effort but make the lemon curd days in advance and then it is not so labor intensive. They turned out perfect and if you love lemon- the taste is superior. They do spread but I made them a tiny bit smaller to allow for the spread. I put on chilled sheets. Perfect!!
Super silly question: can I make the when I make the homemade lemon curd I do not add more sugar after it’s done, correct? thank you. I made these once with store-bought and added sugar to that, they were very good. I look forward to making the lemon curd myself.
Hi Jennifer, if following our homemade lemon curd recipe, the sugar is added in step 2. No need to add any more sugar at the end. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I made your recipe today and they came out soooo buttery and soft with a crisp edge. I did half homemade lemon curd and the half cherry preserves and a lemon glaze. Can’t wait to share.
Wish I could post photos
I love these lemony cookies and will make them again. The homemade lemon curd is a must do if you can. I also recommend weighing ingredients because I was having some issues (spreading, etc.) before I did.
Amazing lemon taste but lemon curd spilled out. I followed the recipe to the T, and even made my own lemon curd but found I needed to make a really deep thumbprint, almost 2 thumbprints worth, and used less than 1/2 tsp curd for each cookie. I had better luck with the second pan that went in the oven. Overall, I’m not sure I would make these again as they were a bit more work that I thought. It would be helpful to include a better picture of the dough with the thumbprints before the curd is added so bakers can see how big the thumbprint needs to be.
I love this website and only bake with recipes from Sally! The homemade lemon curd was DELICIOUS. However I didn’t love the cookie base as much. The cookies held together OK, but I definitely was not exact on my lemon curd spooning and overfilled. Don’t do this! They spilled out causing them to both not look great, but the curd burned that fell out and caramelized the bottoms of the cookies. Not my favorite bake from the website.
Hi Maureen, we’re so glad you enjoyed the lemon curd! It’s certainly a favorite. Overfilling the cookies can certainly cause some spillage as you mention. We’re sorry the cookies weren’t your favorite, but again, we so appreciate you giving them a try!
These cookies are lemon top to bottom. I love them! Easy to make. Hard to leave them alone long enough for my husband to take them to work.
These cookies spread a lot and don’t look like the picture… I followed everything. Butter was barely RT, the dough was chilled for a day, the dough was re-chilled for 10+ min before baking, and they still spread. I also feel like you should make the deepest thumbprint possible because my lemon curd overflowed on all of them. They taste good, but the result is not worth the effort since they really didn’t work like they should’ve. I usually find your recipes to be tried & true, but I’m quite disappointed in this one.
Hi Elizabeth, thank you for the feedback. Were you sure to measure the lemon curd and not over-fill them? I wonder if that is why they over-spread.
I really enjoyed trying this one! But I think I didn’t press deep enough with my thumb or I put too much lemon curd in the middle. The lemon curd bubbled over onto the edge of the cookies. Any idea what I need to do to improve?
Hi Mallori, thanks for giving this recipe a try! Next time, use a little less lemon curd in the middles. Hope they turn out better!
This recipe has gotten rave reviews from everyone I’ve given it too but I cannot make the drizzle not spread and the lines always run together. I wait till the cookies are absolutely cold. I’ve put the icing in the fridge for 10 minutes, all to no avail. How do I make my drizzle as pretty as yours? Help please.
Hi Laura, the trick is to use a squeeze bottle! That’s how Sally got those nice lines. And make sure you don’t add too much milk, so the icing is on the thicker side.
Thanks for the tip Beth. I just bought two squeeze bottles on Amazon. Will definitely try using them soon. Still getting raves from my friends and requests for more.
This is by far the best and tastiest lemon cookie I have ever had. I didn’t even top it with the lemon curd because I wanted to use up some jam spreads. Sally’s recipes are consistently delicious and reliable. Don’t skip out on making these cookies.
Have you tried these with lime curd?
We haven’t tested that, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be good!
I followed the recipe to the letter, including measuring by weight, but I ended up with quite a stiff dough. I chilled it overnight and when I tried to make the thumbprint, the sides cracked, so the filling oozed out. When I was on my second to last sheet, the dough was finally warm enough to get a good thumbprint. I didn’t put any of the trays in the fridge, but they all held their shape. Despite how they look, they taste absolutely amazing and I can’t stop eating them!!
Hi Emily, I’m glad to read that you’re enjoying these. How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level the flour, or weigh it. Scooping it will pack it into the measuring cup. It sounds like there may have been too much flour in the dough, which is why it was so stiff.
They are delicious! I made my own lemon curd and cookies and I put the shaped cookies in the fridge but they did overspread rather than look like your beautiful photos. Is there a trick to getting them to maintain that shape?
The best trick is to chill the shaped cookies before baking, which it sounds like you did. If they are still overspreading, you can add an extra Tbsp or two of flour to the dough. The other trick we use is to take the cookies out of the oven a couple minutes before the end of baking and use a spoon to press gently around the edges of the cookies to sort of re-shape them back into smaller circles. Then return them to the oven for the remaining bake time. Here are all our tips for how to prevent cookies from over-spreading. Hope the next batch turns out better!
This cookie is the perfect lemony flavor and just delicious. Don’t skip the lemon icing. I’ll make these other times of the year, too. I made them along with some other of your cookie palozza recipes to take to a luncheon, and I took home an empty platter. I can’t miss with Sally’s Cookies!
is there another place to access the recipes I have saved besides the icon next to the heart on the right side of the recipe?
Hi Diane! You can find your recipe favorites by clicking on the saved tag again, or the magnifying glass at the upper right hand of the page.
When using strawberry preserves, do you still recommend adding the lemon zest and juice or should I omit them?
Hi Diane, we’d still keep them—the lemon cookie will pair wonderfully with strawberry!