Citrus Cream Cookies

Spring just being on the horizon here in England, these little cookies absolutely reflects that freshness of this season, and would equally be in keeping served with other treats at Easter for afternoon tea.

I do like citrus flavours in my bakes and these citrus cookies truly fit the bill of citrus-ness. I used two different sized cookie cutters to reveal the lush citrus buttercream sandwiched in the centre of each cookie. Certainly the same size cookie cutter could be used however; it will cut down the amount of cookies you can make from the batch of dough.

Citrus Cream Cookies

Makes approximately 12 cookies (depending on size of cookie cutters used)

Ingredients
180g butter, softened
1 tsp finely grated lime zest
80g icing sugar
225g plain flour
40g cornflour
Filling
125g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
160g icing sugar, sifted
Icing sugar for dusting

You will require 2 baking trays lined with non-stick baking parchment
Two cookie cookies the same shape one larger (6cm) one smaller (4 cm)

Method

Add the butter, lime zest and icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy then fold in the flour and cornflour until fully combined. Tip out onto a surface and knead until smooth then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes until firm.

Preheat the oven 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/ gas mark 4.

Roll out half the dough between sheets of cling film and using a flower-shaped cutter or cutter of your choice, cut out 12 larger shapes. Add any scraps of dough to the remaining half of dough and roll out as before and cut out 12 smaller size shapes. Leave a gap between each cookie on the prepared baking trays to ensure they don’t stick together when baked. (Make sure the large shapes are on one tray and the smaller shapes on another.) Bake in the preheated oven for 5-6 minutes for the smaller shaped cookies and 7-6 for larger shaped cookies, until lightly browned. Place on wire racks to cool.

To make the citrus buttercream; put all the filling ingredients into a bowl and beat together until smooth and creamy. Spread the filling on each of the larger cookies and sandwiched together with a smaller cookie. Dust with icing sugar.

Lastly, take a cookie, sit back, eat and enjoy!