These lemon-flavored sandwich cookies are a delicious nod to Sukkot’s etrog tradition! Buttery shortbread cookies flavored with lemon zest are sandwiched with a creamy lemon frosting. The top of each cookie is glazed with lemon glaze and coated in crunchy sugar or sprinkles for extra crunch and sparkle. Shaping the cookies like lemons is optional but simple and fun! You’ll just need a lemon-shaped cookie cutter, like this one.

Lemon Shortbread

Ingredients

  • 113 grams unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
  • 40 grams powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • 1 lemon
  • 150 grams all-purpose flour

Directions

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine 113 grams butter, 40 grams powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon table salt with a spoon or rubber spatula.
  2. Mix the ingredients together until they are smooth and creamy.
  3. Zest the entire lemon over the butter mixture.
  4. Cut open the lemon and squeeze all of the juice into a separate, small bowl.
  5. Add 1½ teaspoon of lemon juice to the butter mixture. Reserve the remaining lemon juice—you’ll use it in the glaze and frosting!
  6. Stir to combine the juice and zest with the butter mixture.
  7. Add 150 grams of flour to the mixture and stir until the flour disappears and a soft dough forms.
  8. Lay a sheet of parchment paper (approximately 18×13”) on your counter.
  9. Place the dough on top of the parchment sheet.
  10. Place another sheet of parchment paper on top and press down gently.
  11. Using a rolling pin, roll the cookie dough out between the parchment sheets until it reaches the very edges of the parchment. The dough will be thin—about 1/16” thick.
  12. Lay the parchment-wrapped dough flat in the refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours. Dough can be stored in the fridge for up to two days.
  13. After the dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  14. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  15. When the oven has preheated, remove the dough from the refrigerator.
  16. Cut out the dough with cookie cutters and place 12 raw cookies on each lined baking sheets. Place the cookies fairly close together—they will not spread.
  17. Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Fully-baked cookies will be matte and light yellow, without any browning. If the cookies puff up in places, gently pat the bubbles down while the cookies are still warm.
  18. Let cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10+ minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Handle them with care! The cookies will be very tender.
  19. While the first round of cookies bake, reroll the remaining cookie dough. After rerolling the cookie dough, place the dough back in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes to cool back down.
  20. Repeat the cutting and baking steps with the rerolled cookie dough until all the dough has been baked.
  21. Make the glaze while the cookies cool completely.
“Etrog” lemon sandwich cookies for Sukkot
“Etrog” lemon sandwich cookies (Photo: Elana Berusch)

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

  • 60 grams powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon lemon juice
  • ½ cup yellow sprinkles or yellow sparkling sugar

Directions

  1. Combine 60 grams powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon lemon juice in a small bowl.
  2. Stir until well combined and smooth.
  3. Divide the baked cookies in two equal sections: One half will be the glazed tops and the other half will be left unglazed as the bottoms.
  4. Place the sprinkles or sugar in a small, shallow dish wide enough to fit a cookie.
  5. Gently dip the top of one cookie into the glaze. Lift up out of the glaze and run your finger or a small spatula over the cookie to leave only a very thin layer of glaze on the cookie.
  6. Immediately press the glazed cookie into the dish of sugar, pressing very gently to adhere the sugar to the glaze.
  7. Lift the cookie up and set it aside.
  8. Repeat with the remaining cookie “tops.”
  9. Let the glazed cookies dry for at least 1 hour.
  10. Make the frosting while the cookies dry!

Lemon Frosting

Ingredients

  • 113 grams unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
  • 100 grams powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
  • Pinch of table salt
  • A drop of yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium-sized bowl, combine 113 grams butter and 100 grams powdered sugar.
  2. Using a stand mixer or handheld electric mixer, mix on low speed to combine the butter and powdered sugar.
  3. Turn the speed to high and beat for 2 minutes, until the mixture is creamy and getting pale.
  4. Add 2 teaspoons lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon lemon extract, a pinch of salt, and yellow food coloring to the mixture and mix for 1 minute to combine.
  5. Cover and set aside until you’re ready to assemble.

“Etrog” Lemon Sandwich Cookies

Makes 15 sandwich cookies

Ingredients

  • Dried, glazed cookies
  • Lemon frosting

Directions

  1. Flip the cookie “bottoms” over so the baked bottom faces up.
  2. Transfer the lemon frosting to a piping bag. If you don’t have piping bags, transfer the frosting to a plastic sandwich bag
  3. Cut the tip off the piping/sandwich bag. You want the opening to be about the size of a pea. If you’re unsure, cut a smaller opening to start with and trim from there!
  4. Pipe buttercream onto the bottom cookie in an oval shape.
  5. Top with a cookie “top” and press down very lightly to seal the cookies together.
  6. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
  7. Enjoy! Cookies can be stored in a sealed container for up to two days at room temperature.

If you make this recipe, post a picture on Instagram and tag @lanibakes and @jewishboston! We’d love to see what you’re cooking up.