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Lemon Bar Cookie Cups

Sara Williams
These Lemon Bar Cookie Cups are easy to make, and easier to serve than lemon bars.  If you’re a lemon bar lover, you’ll love this cookie cup version. 
Cook Time 12 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 48 cookies
Calories 104 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour*
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda*
  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ cup butter softened
  • ½ cup sugar*
  • ½ cup confectioners’ sugar powdered sugar
  • ½ cup canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon lemon extract
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup lemon curd recipe below
  • powdered sugar for decorating optional

Lemon Curd

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Instructions
 

  • Prepare lemon curd.
  • Preheat oven to 350° F.
  • Combine the flours, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar in a small bowl and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the oil, egg and extracts. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and stir until combined.
  • Drop one tablespoon dough (I used a #50 scoop) into each cup of a greased mini muffin tin or lined with mini cupcake liners. Bake for 8 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Fill with a teaspoon of lemon curd.
  • Return to the oven and bake for an additional 4 minutes, or until cookies are firm and lightly browned on the sides. Remove to wire racks to cool.
  • Sprinkle the edges of the cookies with powdered sugar.

Lemon Curd

  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, until well combined. Add the eggs and yolks and beat for 1 min. Add the lemon juice and mix until blended – the mixture will look lumpy.
  • In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it melts. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don’t let the mixture boil. (Once it was completely melted, mine thickened and reached 170º in just a few minutes, so watch it closely.)
  • Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.