Lime Curd Cookies
Lime cookies, bringing home the lime! These crispy edged, chewy centered cookies have a dollop of tart and tangy lime curd baked into the center and a dusting of graham cracker crumbs for a pie like flavor.
These were inspired by my (very beloved) lemon curd stuffed cookies. It’s a basic sugar cookie recipe, made with a combination of sugars for a toss between shortbread and chewy sugar cookie texture. The cookie is made with melted butter to enhance that chewy center, and flavored with real vanilla and lots of lime zest.
But the best part is the center: tangy, tart, sharp and sweet lime curd sits right in the center. The cookies are dusted with some graham cracker crumbs, giving them a hint of lime pie cookie taste.
How to make homemade lime curd
Limes: A firm, all over green lime is quite tart, a softer lime with a bit of yellow to its hue will have a nice balance between tart and sweet. Overly soft limes probably won’t be as tart.
Always use freshly zested and juiced limes to make lime curd. You’ll get brilliantly sharp, bright flavor. I like to rub the zest into the sugar to really get it to release it’s oils (and flavor).
Stirring: Much like a custard, fruit curds like to overcook on the bottom and occasionally curdle. This is because of the eggs in it. Therefore it’s essential you stir frequently, so that the whole curd will cook evenly and you’ll know the moment it’s ready to go off the heat.
Temperature: A thermometer is quite handy when making lime curd (or any curd really), while noting the thickness by running the curd off the back of a spoon is a good indicator, if you want to be precise you can check the temperature reaches 165-170 F.
How to make lime curd cookies
Make the lime curd
Make this ahead of time – it’ll speed the day of baking process along considerably.
To make the curd you’ll zest and juice the limes then combine that with sugar and eggs. YOu’ll cook until it’s thick then combine it with the butter (after sieving out the bits – so you have a wonderfully smooth curd).
Lime curd is more yellow in color since lime juice isn’t quite green, and with the egg yolks it turns it primarily yellow. If you want your curd to look more ‘lime’ you can add a bit of green food coloring (I did).
Lime curd will keep in the fridge for about two weeks. You can also freeze it for months.
Make the cookie dough
You’ll do this a day or at least four hours before you plan to shape and bake the cookies. A melted butter dough often needs time to rest, for the butter to firm up again. Without the rest and chill period, the cookies will be quite thin and spread too much in the oven.
But making the dough and chilling it also improves flavor; allows the flour to hydrate for good texture and for the lime zest to seep flavor into the whole dough.
Making this dough is simple: melt the butter, then whisk in the sugars, then egg, then flour. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge to chill.
Shape the cookies
The dough, straight from the fridge, will be stiff and hard to work with so take it out an hour beforehand so it softens.
Then you’ll portion it onto a cookie sheet. I use a cookie scoop to divide the dough equally.
With each dough ball, you’ll shape it into a ‘bowl’ by pressing with your thumbs. The goal is to make a deep bowl with a narrow opening at the top. The curd gets poured into the bowl then you’ll carefully squeeze the top to try to ‘close’ it. Leave some open though – so that the curd will be exposed when the cookie spreads as it bakes.
Last thing to do: sprinkle some graham cracker (or digestive cookie) crumbs on top.
Freeze and bake
I like to give these about ten minutes in the freezer before baking. It helps firm up the curd so that the cookies and curd will bake and spread nicely.
When they come out of the oven, add a bit of lime zest to the top. It gives it nice color and adds to that lime flavor.
How to store lime curd cookies
The curd is baked, so in theory you could keep these at room temperature for a day. Any longer though, I’d say stick them in an airtight container and in the fridge.
Lime Curd Cookies
Ingredients
Lime Curd
- 55g or ½ cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 3 limes
- 120g or ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 3 large eggs
- 57g or ¼ cup unsalted butter cold
Lime Sugar Cookie
- 226g or 1 cup butter
- Zest of 2-3 limes
- 200g or 1 cup granulated sugar
- 55g or ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 390g or 3 cups all purpose flour if using cup measurement, shake the flour in the bag first to loosen it then sprinkle it into the cup measurement and level off the top
- ¼ cup ground graham crackers or digestive cookies
Method
Make the lime curd
- Pour the sugar into a medium sized pot and zest the limes over the sugar. Rub the sugar between your thumbs and fingers to release the oils.
- Whisk this mixture with the eggs and a pinch of salt. Pour in the lime juice and whisk well.
- Slice the butter and place in a bowl. Set a sieve over the bowl.
- Set over medium low heat, whisking frequently as it thickens. Once it reaches 170 F or is thick enough to cover the back of a spoon, remove from heat.
- Pour through the sieve to remove the egg bits and zest, pressing to get as much curd as possible. Stir until the curd is smooth and all the butter has melted.
- Pour into a jar and set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
Make the cookie dough
- In a heatproof bowl, melt the butter until it’s almost but not fully melted. Add the sugars and lime zest and whisk very well, for about 60 seconds.
- Add the salt and vanilla and whisk. Now crack in the egg and whisk for another 60 seconds.
- Add in the flour (if it’s lumpy sift it in) and the baking soda. Fold with a rubber spatula until dough is cohesive. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in the fridge.
The day of baking
- Take the cookie dough out of the fridge a few hours before you plan to bake to allow it to soften. Scoop 1.5-2 tablespoons of cookie dough onto two prepared cookie pans (lined with parchment paper).
- Use your hands and especially your thumbs to mold each dough ball into the shape of a tiny, deep bowl. Pour about 1 tablespoon of curd into the ‘bowl’ then squeeze the top to mostly close the ‘bowl’ but leave a little bit of it exposed.
- Repeat with all the dough balls. Sprinkle some of the ground crackers/cookies over the tops of the cookies, aiming to get most of the crumbs where the curd and cookie meet.
- Set the trays in the freezer and freeze the cookies for at least 10 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. The cookies need to be at least 1 inch apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) as they will spread.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are turning golden.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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These cookies were fantastic! I made them for the first time and all my friends loved them
Hello! I agree these cookies are delicious. I made them for the lime lovers in my family and even though I’m not a big lime fan myself even I find myself reaching for them! I tried to follow the recipe precisely regarding measurements and chilling time, however, the batch I made did not seem to spread as much as pictured in the recipe. Is there anything you all can think of to explain why that is? Either way, they came out delicious! I however tend to prefer a thinner cookie like they seem to have turned out in the pictures.
It might have something to do with how much curd you added to each cookie, the curd tends to push the cookie dough out as it bakes
I feel like these would be next level good with some toasted coconut on top…. Might have to try that ????
yes!!!
The curd was so easy and came together so beautifully that I felt like a real pastry chef. When I made the cookie dough the ingredients combined exactly how I expected them to, however, when I went to shape and bake the cookies I felt my dough was dry and crumbly. I had to have damp hands to shape them. I shaped them into little bowl-type shapes and filled them with the curd as the recipe suggests but when I baked them the curd spilled out the sides and I was a little disappointed about how they looked. It was probably my fault and not the recipe but it was kind of a bummer. They do taste delicious though so no complaints there. I only baked off half the batch so I’m going to bake the rest of it into a bar shape and see if that looks prettier.
Lily, I’m glad the curd worked out wonderfully and sorry about the cookies! Honestly, it happens to me too – a lot! The batch pictured had some spilling but so those didn’t get into the photos lol. As far as the dough being crumbly, it is a bit but once you start working it with your hands it warms up and should be rather easy to mold. You have to be kinda careful with how much you fill the “bowls” and you want to kind of squeeze the top part so that the curd is just peeking through a dime sized hole – that should limit how much spills out.
Hi! Currently in the middle of making these but I have a question and recommendation – how long should you chill the dough? In your recipe, it doesn’t mention chilling at all, but in your text, it seems important. I’d recommend adding the chilling time to your recipe if possible!
at least a few hours or you can do overnight
I made these for family dinner and they were a huge hit! The sweet/tart contrast between the curd and the cookie is delightful, and the combination of textures with the curd, cookie, and graham cracker crumbs is so satisfying. I cannot recommend these enough!