This recipe came about while I was testing out ideas for an upcoming Cookie of the Month, and wondering how I could brighten up the resulting flat and not so exciting lemon cookies.
Don’t let me fool you, the lemon cookies actually taste quite good on their own- they are chewy and delightfully lemon flavored (not overly sour or overly sweet). But you know, they were just so boring. Besides, I gave you a lemon cookie before that stood so well on its own it didn’t need any extras.
So of course I had to consult with my mom, my go-to dessert expert. She had the genius idea of adding strawberry buttercream. So smart because not only do these cookies now scream summer, but they also have the prettiest pink filling!
I used this strawberry buttercream before for cupcakes and it was a huge hit, so I’m so glad we found a way to highlight it again!
Oh, and I realized that I might have left a few of you hanging. For those of you who don’t follow me on social media, you may not have seen the big news I had teased about a few weeks ago. Keep It Sweet Desserts was featured on the TODAY Show! We were showcased as having the BEST BLONDIES on the East Coast. Why yes I am still freaking out about that!
Anyway, back to these cookies! Make them right away and then make them again for Mother’s Day, they’d pair very well with a package of Strawberries and Cream Cookies ;-)
- 10⅛ ounces (~2¼ cups) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- 11¼ ounces (~1½ cups) granulated sugar
- 2 x-large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (~1 large lemon)
- 1½ cups white chocolate chips
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup / 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
- ½ cup strawberry jelly
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees; line baking sheets with parchment paper or slipats and set aside
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside
- In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar for several minutes until light and fluffy
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and add eggs and lemon zest, mix on medium speed just until combined
- Reduce speed to low and slowly add flour mixture just until combined; scrape sides of bowl again and then stir in white chocolate chips
- Use a medium cookie dough scoop (~2 tablespoons) and scoop cookie dough 1-2 inches apart on prepared pans
- Bake 8-10 minutes or until center of cookie appears set and edges are a very light golden brown
- Set aside cookies to cool and prepare buttercream
- Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on high speed for several minutes until butter is light and creamy
- Add jelly and beat on high speed for one minute; scrape the side of the bowl
- Add sugar and mix on low speed until combined; then increase the speed to high and beat for several minutes until frosting is light and fluffy
- Set cookies into pairs closest in size to one another
- Pipe or spread 1-2 tablespoons of buttercream on the bottom half of one cookie in each pair; lightly press other cookie on top of buttercream
- Store cookies in an airtight container up to three days; may be frozen up to one month
These were pretty large cookie sandwiches, you can definitely use a smaller cookie dough scoop and just reduce the cooking time by a couple of minutes.
If you aren't a fan of white chocolate chips, feel free to leave them out, but they do compliment the other flavors really well.
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