Trader Joe's Recipes: Lemon Curd Pie-Crust Cookies

Trader Joe's Recipes: Lemon Curd Pie-Crust Cookies 

Trader Joe's, once again you have me wishing I had extra bottles of your ready-made Lemon Curd and deliciously crafted frozen Pie Crusts on hand tonight! Oh man, two must adds to my base pantry and frozen staples!! 

Lemon Curd Pie-Crust Cookies

Tart lemon curd and rich pistachios complement one another perfectly in this festive thumb print cookie. The use of frozen pie crust for dough saves time and the unique center layer of filling adds an extra punch of lemony-flavor and texture. This recipe yields about 25 mini thumb-print cookies, but it can be easily doubled if both frozen pie crusts are used.

Serves: 6 - 8  Prep Time: 30 Minutes  Cooking Time: 12 - 15 MinutesPrint Recipe

INGREDIENTS

Cookies:

• 1 TJ’s Pie Crust, defrosted and kept in the plastic
• 5 Tablespoons TJ’s Lemon Curd, divided
• ½ cup TJ’s Pistachio Nutmeats, chopped very fine
• TJ’s Organic Powdered Sugar (for dusting)

Supplies:

• Parchment paper
• A baking sheet
• Rolling pin, check out this article on best finds share your favorite--I need to buy one worthy of forever
• Tiny circle cookie cutter (1.5 in. diameter)

DIRECTIONS

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Gently smooth the pie-crust with a rolling pin over the plastic sheet so that there are no cracks in the dough.

Remove only the top layer of plastic then spread 4 tablespoons of lemon curd evenly across dough with a butter knife, leaving a 1/4 inch of room around the edges. Evenly sprinkle 1/4 cup of chopped pistachios over the top of the lemon curd.

Carefully fold the dough in half, making a semicircle—sandwiching the filling in the middle. Gently smooth your rolling pin over the dough (on the top of the plastic again) to ensure that all the edges meet. If a little filling squishes out, that’s okay.

Place the dough semicircle on your baking sheet and pop it in the freezer (or refrigerator) for 5-10 minutes until the dough is cold and the lemon curd is a slightly firm. This will make it much easier to cut the cookies out.

Remove the tray, and cut circles out of the dough with a small cookie cutter. If the cookies start sticking to your cutter, tap the cutter in a little flour. Arrange the cookies two inches apart on the baking sheet. Press the tip of your thumb into the center of each cookie, making a very shallow, 1/4 inch deep indentation. Fill each indentation with a small dab of lemon curd, about 1/8 teaspoon. You will want to fill it with more delicious lemon curd, but restrain yourself because it will overflow if you do. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with your remaining 1/4 cup of chopped pistachios – there might be extra nuts.

At this point, the lemon curd will be runny again, so put the tray of cookies in the freezer for 5-10 minutes until the dough is cold and the lemon curd is firm. If you skip this step, your lemon curd will leak out to the edges while baking.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the tray from the freezer and bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottom edges of the cookie start to caramelize and the tops brown slightly.

Let cookies cool for at least 10 minutes then dust with powdered sugar. Carefully remove the cookies with a spatula onto a platter and serve. Store cookies in a sealed container for up to 5 days OR fill then pop into freezer until party or gifting time arrives! What a festive way to deliver these thoughtful homemade presents to neighbors or prepare ahead for that middle of the week office cookie exchange party!! 

RT @TraderJoesList @WhatsGoodAtTJs #TraderJoesRecipes #CookieExchange #nomnomnom

Thank you once again TJ's, we all have so much love all year round and even more this holiday season...you keep us on our toes and we just cannot believe we have to wait until tomorrow to make these...our mouth's are already watering and our tummies going...

...rumble rumble rumble--we have to be patient and dreaming is going to have to get us through the evening...until tomorrow for the next possible chance to run by our neighborhood Trader Joe's :) Yes, go ahead and get THAT excited...ahhhh...toooooo excited to sleeeeep. 

Well, almost. 

#cantstopwontstop #Storytelling #CookieButterDreaming
#WizardInTheKitchen

Holiday Party How To's and suggestion for homemade gift giving made from scratch with love!