Strawberry Filled Lemon Sandwich Cookies
Mon, May 9, 2011
Summer is coming.
It is not exactly here yet, but with the rising temperatures and cloudless skies I can feel it on the horizon. I am ready for it this year after the unpleasantly cold winter we had. When the weather gets warm I start craving specific things. Grilled meats, potato salad, and cool citrus drinks. Now that winter is a distant memory, I have begun dusting off some of my warm weather recipes and shopping with an eye toward what is in season. At my market you can’t turn around without bumping into a display of luscious red strawberries.
I love strawberries and lemons together. Most notably I love strawberry lemonade, and that is what inspired these cookies. The cookies themselves are a lightly lemony shortbread which would be lovely all alone with a glass of iced tea. I did not stop with just the cookie, however, and opted to fill them with a little fresh strawberry buttercream. These cookies taste like warm weather, lazy afternoons, and everything I love about the spring and summer.
Strawberry Filled Lemon Sandwich Cookies Yield 3 dozen
For the cookies:
1 1/3 cups All-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
10 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2/3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
For the filling:
5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons finely diced strawberry
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Heat the oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine all the ingredients for the cookies. Mix on low speed until the dough just comes together, then increase the speed to medium for 30 seconds, or until the dough is smooth and clumping around the paddle.
Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thick. Using a small round cookie or biscuit cutter, about 1-inch, cut out as many cookies as you can. Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets about 1/4-inch apart. Re-roll the scraps and cut additional cookies. Discard any remaining scraps.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until the bottom edge of the cookies is just turning golden brown and the centers of the cookies are slightly puffed. Cool the cookies completely on the pans.
While the cookies cool prepare the filling.
In a medium bowl cream together the butter and strawberries until only small pieces of berry remain. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth. If necessary add more powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time to stiffen the filling if it seems too loose. It should have the consistency of cake frosting.
Once the cookies are cool spread 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling on half of the cookies. Top with a second cookie and gently press to spread the filling to the edges. Store the cookies in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Allow to cookies to sit at room temperature for ten minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
© 2011, Evil Shenanigans – Baking & Cooking Blog. All rights reserved.
Tags: Lemon, lemon sandwich cookies, lemon shortbread, lemon zest, spring cookies, Strawberry, strawberry buttercream, strawberry filled cookies, strawberry filling, strawberry lemon cookies, strawberry lemonade cookies, strawberry sandwich cookies, summer cookies
Strawberry lemonade is the best! Which means these cookies much be delicious as well.
Summer is most definitely coming! These cookies look perfect…I’m completely enamored with them!
Oh my! These look delicious! I love the combo of strawberries and lemon, too. Thanks for the summer treat – can’t wait to try them.
So delicious looking! Love that second photo!
Perfect and beautiful Kelly and I’m betting they taste perfectly beautiful too.
Kelly, the lemon shortbread looks AMAZING and the cookies are beautiful. Just one minor problem for me in the fact that I am allergic to strawberries, so I’m going to improvise… and fill them with NUTELLA!
Becca – YES!! Do it … Nutella makes EVERYTHING better!
These cookies sound deliciou! They are beautiful as well with the pale pink filling! Love the use of strawberries, makes me think of spring
!
These look great and such a wonderful flavor combination.
Pretty cookies! I bet they are tasty too:)
These look perfect for summer! Just love them!
What sort of juice do you use? These look wonderful!
Emily – Lemon juice … thanks!!
Wow, these look absolutely delicious.
These look so good! I can’t wait to try them!
Oh my !!! these cookies look so perfect , yummmmm , wonderful flavours too , wish I had one right now
What IS it about lemon and berries that is just so good? Great idea to make a sandwich cookie! And I love them even more because they’re pink!
Oh my….strawberries and lemon….I adore this combination.
This looks like the exact thing I would love to have at home for the evening coffee in front of the television.
I’m going to give it a try!
Those look wonderful. I love what you did with this.
These are so very beautiful. And, you’re right – they’re perfect for the summer. It’s not so sunny here yet, either, but I would bake up these little guys for dessert on the porch with some lemonade for sure.
These are rediculously cute/delicious/creative. Now I MUST try these. WOW!
Usually I don’t like Oreo’s but these look like a great creative alternative that spell out SUMMER. 
Thanks!
These were so good – got the seal of approval from my co-workers!
These look great. I like the combination of strawberry and lime. Would the cookies work if you replaced the lemon zest and juice with lime zest and juice?
Kim – I bet it would be lovely!
I tried these today (just the shortbreads, I didn’t have enough butter for the buttercream) and they taste awesome!
I think I’ll make another batch using orange juice and zest.
Thanks a million times for sharing!
These are delicious. I don’t have great luck with rolling and cutting cookie dough, so I rolled it into a couple of logs and chilled them in the fridge. They worked great as slice and bake cookies!
Hey. Tried these today (made a double-batch actually) and they came out fairly well. Love the lemon kick that the zest brings! I do suggest, though, that your readers everything (especially the powdered sugar) before beginning-mine had a few awkward clumps.
Also, Kelly, do you have any suggestions for toning down the icing? I <3 your recipes, but the frosting always seems to be sweeter than I like it. How can I get it to a good consistency without such a high sugar-to-flavoring ratio?
Overall, a great cookie, lots of fun. I even put thin strawberry slices inside mine
In my last comment I meant to say “sift everything”, apologies.
I did these cookies and they were doubly delicious. They were easy to make. You give out great instrucions with pictures. I will be trying other recipes!
can you freeze these?
Christina- you can freeze the cookies, but I would not freeze them once filled or the strawberry in the filling will become watery.
I made these today, and added about 1/4 of a package of cream cheese. The shortbread was wonderful, and tangy! Only problem…now I need to make another batch tomorrow, as the first batch is almost gone already! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for this recipe!! I made them and they were delicious!! ^^