When you need an easy recipe that delivers on both flavor and looks, these lemon flower cookies are just what you need. They are perfect for a bridal shower, Easter, or any spring party. The daisy shape is so pretty, and the lemon curd makes this a light and bright pastry treat. You won’t believe how easy it is to whip these together.
About Lemon Curd Cookie Flowers
Some may argue that these are a pastry and not a cookie, but I’m going to stick with calling them a cookie. These lemon cookies are made with a store-bought puff pastry dough and a homemade lemon curd. If you want to make this recipe even easier, you can skip making the lemon curd yourself. There are plenty of tasty lemon curds and lemon glaze available at the grocery store, but if you have the time there’s nothing like a fresh lemon curd. And you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to make.
Making Lemon Curd
I think that people sometimes get intimidated with curds, but they are really easy to make and use simple ingredients. The recipe includes egg yolk, so the mixture does need to be heated so that the eggs cook through and are safe to eat. Since lemons are the star ingredient, make sure you use fresh lemon juice. Artificial lemon extract and juice are not needed. Stick with fresh juice and lemon zest and your curd will be full of lemon flavor.
Using room temperature butter makes it easier to cream butter and sugar together. But don’t worry having to cream the 1/2 cup sugar and egg yolks together until creamy. They will melt together and become creamy when you heat them. Just go low and slow so that you don’t scramble the eggs. Heat the curd over medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Be sure to constantly stir mixture.
How to Make Lemon Flower Cookies
The key to these lemon flower cookies is how you arrange the puff pastry so that the finished cookie looks like a flower. Rather than using baking sheets lined with parchment paper like you would with traditional cookies, for this recipe you need a mini muffin tin. Puff pastry needs to thaw before you can work with it.
There are two ways that I like to do this. Either leaving it in the refrigerator overnight. Or pull the puff pastry out of the freezer when you put the lemon curd in the refrigerator to chill. Put the puff pastry into the fridge to start, but 30 minutes before you want to bake cookies put the puff pastry on the counter to continue thawing at room temperature.
Lay the puff pastry on top of a clean work surface. Use a flower cookie cutter to cut out as many flowers as possible. The size of the cookie cutter will determine how many cookies you get out of one package, but you should get at least 12. If you want smaller cookies, opt for a smaller cookie cutter.
Place one of the cookie dough flowers in the center of the muffin tin. Gently press down to make an indent in the center of the flower. Then flatten the flower petals so that they lay flat against the muffin tin. Use a small piece of parchment paper to line the indentation and then fill with a crumbled-up piece of aluminum foil. Or some pastry weights or beans. It won’t take much, but you want to make sure that the center of the flower stays indented and doesn’t puff-up while baking.
Bake until the puff pastry is golden brown. Pull the pan from the oven and remove the parchment and weights from the center. If the puff pastry in the center of the flower is still under baked, put the cookies back in the oven for another minute so that the center can bake a little more.
Let the flowers cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Then fill the center with the lemon filling. You can either spoon the curd in or use a piping bag. Dust the top with powdered sugar. If you want even more lemon flavor, you can always zest some lemon to sprinkle on top. Or, add a lemon frosting. The glaze is easy to make with a little powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mix together until smooth and the consistency is thin enough to drizzle on top.
I like to serve these cookies the day that I make them so that the puff pastry remains flaky. However, you can also make them a day ahead of time and store them in an airtight container. If you need to layer the cookies, be sure to use a layer of parchment paper, wax paper, or freezing paper to prevent the cookies from sticking together. You can also bake the flowers ahead of time and then fill them with the curd right before serving.
Lemon Curd Cookie Flowers
Equipment
- Mini Muffin Pan
- Piping Bag
- Sifter
- Measuring Cups
- Saucepan
- Strainer
Ingredients
- 1 package puff pastry dough
Lemon Curd
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
Topping
- Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- In a small bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter.
- Add the sugar and blend together.
- Add the eggs, lemon juice and zest and mix together.
- Transfer to a medium saucepan and constantly stir the lemon mixture over medium low heat until it thickens – about 10 minutes.
- Once the lemon curd has thickened, strain into a bowl.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- When the lemon curd has chilled, take the thawed pastry dough and lay out on a clean work surface.
- Use a flower cookie cutter to cut out flower shaped pastries.
- Place each flower pastry into a cupcake well. Press down in the middle, allowing the flower petal to fall over the flat top of the cupcake pan.
- Place a square of parchment paper in the center of each pastry and use a crumpled ball of foil to weigh down the center of the flowers while baking.
- Bake in the oven at 375 degrees fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes until the pastry has puffed and become slightly browned.
- Remove the pastry from the oven and let cool completely.
- Meanwhile, transfer the lemon curd to a piping bag and cut the tip.
- Once the cookies have cooled, pipe lemon curd into the center of each pastry.
- Sift powdered sugar over cookies to finish.
Variations for Cookie Flowers
If you don’t like lemons or you want to change up the recipe a bit, you can always use a different filling. It’s an easy way to use up fresh berries or fruit that you have on hand. You could use a raspberry or strawberry jam for the filling as well. Or how about a delicious blueberry compote in the center? Do a combination of these and you can serve red and blue cookie flowers for the 4th of July.
You can also vary the way that you make these lemon flower cookies. If you don’t have a mini muffin pan, you can use a cookie sheet instead. The flowers won’t have quite the same shape, but the petals will still puff up around the center.
You can also make these cookies using a sugar cookie recipe instead of the puff pastry. Or, buttery shortbread cookies. Use a little all-purpose flour on a cutting board to roll out the cookie dough with a rolling pin. Follow the same steps for shaping and baking the cookies, adjusting the baking time as needed.
These cookies are so pretty, I think that are the perfect treat to make for a special event, birthday celebrations, or Valentine’s Day. The dessert table at a spring bridal shower, or Easter dinner is a great time to serve these fun shape pastries. Add a few edible flowers to the display to make the colors really pop. These cookies are one of those desserts where people will rave about their appearance and taste. And it will be our little secret about how easy these cookies are to make.
More lemon cookie recipes:
Thumbprint cookies with lemon curd
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