Lemon Cookies | Lemon Sandwich Cookies

These simple lemon cookies are flecked with lemon zest, filled with a lemon buttercream and taste just like the EBM lemon sandwich biscuits. The best way to enjoy these buttery lemon sandwich cookies is with a cup of tea.

One of my favorite things to have with a cup of chai is biscuits, and one of the regulars in the chai biscuit category is the lemon biscuit sandwich by EBM. English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM for short) is a Pakistani biscuit company, and one of their most popular biscuits is the lemon biscuit sandwich. This is my take on the same biscuit using a buttery biscuit dough and a tangy lemon buttercream filling.

How to make lemon sandwich cookies?

• Make the lemon cookie dough: The first step to making these lemon sandwich cookies (or lemon sandwich biscuits) is to make the dough. The recipe of the dough is the same one I use for making my salted caramel melting moments, just with lemon zest added. Start with creaming the butter and sugar and add vanilla essence and lemon zest for flavor. Sift over the flour and corn flour and mix together till a dough is formed. Cover the dough with clingfilm and chill for at least 45 minutes. Once the dough is chilled it will be easier to roll out and cut into cookies.
• Cut and bake the cookies: Roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet and sprinkle the surface with flour. Use your preferred cookie cutter to cut the dough into cookies. I used the biscuit cutter from the Soffritto tea cookie stamp cutter for the signature lemon biscuit sandwich look.  Place the cookies on a lined baking tray and bake till pale golden and firm to the touch.
• Prepare the lemon buttercream: The filling for these lemon sandwich cookies is a simple lemon buttercream. Beat softened butter till creamy, then add icing sugar, along with lemon zest and lemon juice. Once the lemon buttercream is ready, use it to sandwich the cookies together. Eat the prepared lemon sandwich cookies with tea or coffee.

Tips on making lemon cookies:

• Chill the cookie dough: There are many benefits to chilling cookie dough. Cold cookie dough is easier to handle and roll out. Chilling cookie dough also firms it up, reducing the possibility of your cookies spreading in the oven. So make sure you chill the dough before you start rolling it out, and if at any time you feel the dough is difficult to handle keep it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm it up. If the kitchen is quite hot or it’s summer, you may need to chill the dough for longer. If the dough is kept in the fridge (or freezer) for too long it will become hard. In that case, just let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes till it reaches the right temperature and rolling out consistency.
• Cutting cookies properly: The first few times I made cookies the thing I struggled with the most was cutting the cookies. The cookies wouldn’t cut, or I wouldn’t be able to lift the cookies to the baking sheet. Here is how to prevent that. First make sure you are working in a relatively cool area of the house, and your cookie dough is chilled. If the kitchen is too hot, the dough becomes difficult to handle. Use a good quality cookie cutter with sharp edges. Dust the cookie cutters in flour (or icing sugar) and then cut the cookie dough. When cutting the cookies, press firmly and then lightly move the cookie cutter from left to right. This will release the cut cookie from the dough, and that way you can easily pick it up and place it on the baking tray. If you are finding it difficult to lift the cut cookies use a mini palette knife or a cake server.

If you are looking for other biscuit / cookie recipes, do try out the following:

1. 3 ingredient coconut ladoos (Coconut caramel fudge balls)
2. Nan Khatai (Pakistani cardamom flavored shortbread biscuits)
3. Lemon and Cardamom Shortbread
4. Salted Caramel Melting Moments
5. Cardamom jam thumbprints (Jam cookies)
6. and check out this post if you want to learn how to make a holiday cookie box.  

Would love it if you could try out and rate the recipe, and let me know how it was in the comments below! 

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Lemon Cookies | Lemon Sandwich Cookies

These simple lemon cookies are flecked with lemon zest, filled with a lemon buttercream and taste just like the EBM lemon sandwich biscuits. The best way to enjoy these buttery lemon sandwich cookies is with a cup of tea.

Course Afternoon Tea, Dessert, Hi Tea

Cuisine American, Pakistani

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Chilling Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Servings 8 people

Calories 350 kcal

Ingredients

For the cookie dough:

• 1 cup / 250g butter softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• ½ – 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• ½ cup / 80g icing sugar
• 1 ½ cups / 225g all purpose flour
• ½ cup / 75g cornflour

For the lemon buttercream filling:

• 1/3 cup 80g butter
• 2/3 cup 110g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

For the cookie dough:

1. Place softened butter, vanilla essence and lemon zest in a large bowl. Sift icing sugar on top and beat with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Sift the flour and cornflour over the butter mixture and beat with an electric whisk till a soft dough is formed. If the dough is still sticky, add in more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

2. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces, and shape each into a circular disk. Wrap each disk in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes. The dough can be stored in the fridge for upto 2 days, but in that case you will need to soften it slightly at room temperature before rolling the dough.

3. Preheat oven to 160 C / 320 F (140 C fan forced). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

4. Place 1 portion of dough on a lightly floured parchment paper or silicon baking mat. Use a lightly floured rolling pan to roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness (6 mm). In case the dough is still sticky, use more flour or you can place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough, and then roll.

5. Cut cookies using a square cookie cutter. I used the Soffritto cookie stamp cutter for the signature lemon biscuit sandwich look. But you can use any square or round cookie cutter that you have available at home. To prevent sticking to the dough, dust the cookie cutter in flour and then cut the dough. Make sure to use a good cookie cutter and press firmly so that the cut cookies have sharp edges and release easily.
6. Repeat with the other two dough disks. Any dough scraps can be re-rolled and cut into cookies. If at any time, the dough feels sticky keep it in the fridge or freezer for a couple of minutes to chill.
7. Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
8. Bake until the biscuits are pale golden and cooked through, 11 to 14 minutes swapping the trays halfway through. The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven but they will firm up after cooling. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

For the lemon buttercream filling:

1. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter in a small bowl until pale and creamy. Add icing sugar along with lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat on low speed until combined and smooth.

2. Use a butter knife to spread a little buttercream on the base of a cooled biscuit, and sandwich it together with another biscuit. Repeat till all biscuits are made.

3. This recipe makes about 16 – 18 biscuits, and the nutrition is keeping in mind 2 biscuits per person.