Lemon Tiramisu Cookies

My friend and I were partway through preparing a meal for 70 people—at a summer workshop for folk musicians—when he realized we didn’t have anything for dessert. As the sound of banjos and fiddles filtered into the kitchen from a nearby hayfield, we poured over recipe ideas: Cakes were too fiddly, and anything individually portioned was out of the question. “What about tiramisu?” he asked.

If you ever need a sweet pick-me-up, whether it’s for four people or for dozens, tiramisu—or a fun variation of tiramisu like lemon tiramisu cookies—is a perfect choice. After all, the word literally means “pick me up” or “cheer me up” in Italian.

The classic version, which is served in nearly every Italian American restaurant, is made by soaking ladyfingers in espresso with a lick of something boozy and then layering them with sweetened mascarpone cheese. Our cookie version has espresso powder in the dough, and the baked rounds are frosted with a lemony mascarpone and cream cheese topping. A dusting of cocoa powder and some white chocolate shavings really sell the dessert as a tiramisu cookie.

Ingredients for Lemon Tiramisu Cookies

• Butter: This recipe contains only a little salt, so you can use salted or unsalted butter depending on what you’ve got in the house. Either way, let the butter soften to room temperature on the counter before beginning the recipe.
• Sugar: Regular granulated sugar is the ticket for making lemon tiramisu cookies, as it will let the espresso and lemon flavors shine through nicely.
• Eggs: Beating a couple of grade A large eggs ahead of time makes them easier to incorporate into the butter and sugar mixture. This is a great tip for tons of baking recipes.
• Milk: A splash of whole milk helps moisten the cookie dough and helps create a flavorful, creamy cookie topping.
• Espresso powder: Espresso powder is a fun way to add coffee flavor to baked goods without needing to brew a pot of coffee or pull a shot of espresso. Plus, you don’t have to factor in extra liquid. It’s an excellent thing to keep in the cupboard, as it’s also a secret ingredient for better chocolate desserts.
• Lemon extract: This extract is made by using alcohol to extract the oil from lemon peels. Real lemon extract offers a punch of citrus flavor that you can use in place of zest. Skip the imitation stuff, which tastes more like lemon candies than like fresh fruit. There are plenty of incredible recipes with lemon extract that make buying a bottle worth it.
• Dry cookie ingredients: You’ll use a few classic pantry staples, including all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda, when putting together the cookie dough.
• Mascarpone: Mascarpone is a rich, silky ingredient that can be used in delicious treats such as cannoli cake and baklava cheesecake.
• Cream cheese: Cream cheese adds some tang and body to the cookie topping.
• Lemon pudding mix: Instant pudding mix is a clever ingredient in the topping for our lemon tiramisu cookies. It contains sugar and cornstarch, and it helps stabilize whatever you mix it into. Plus, it’s responsible for the pretty yellow color.

Directions

Step 1: Mix up the cookie dough

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Beat in the egg and the lemon extract.

In a small bowl, combine the milk and instant espresso, and stir to dissolve. Add to the creamed mixture.

Editor’s Tip: A stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer both work for making the cookie dough.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda, gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and chill for two hours.

Step 2: Roll and bake the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with a 4-1/2-inch circle cookie cutter dipped in flour to help keep the dough from sticking. Place cutouts 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake until the edges just begin to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Step 3: Make and pipe the frosting

For the frosting, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Add the mascarpone, milk, pudding mix and lemon extract. Beat on medium speed until smooth, two to three minutes.

Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe the topping to cover each cookie. If desired, dust with baking cocoa and decorate with white chocolate shavings.

Editor’s Tip: Don’t have a piping bag? You could put the frosting in a resealable plastic bag and cut off one corner to create a DIY piping bag. You could also frost the cookies with a butter knife. If you do have a piping bag, you could apply the frosting in a fun pattern, as we did in the photo. You could also start in the center of the cookie and pipe the frosting in a spiral.

Lemon Tiramisu Cookie Variations

• Change the cookie flavor: Swap in another favorite extract, like orange, vanilla, almond or coffee, for the lemon flavoring. (If you use almond or coffee extract, use only 1 teaspoon.) You could also add lemon or orange zest to the dough. Don’t enjoy coffee? Go full citrus and skip the espresso powder.
• Use different cookie cutters: There’s no reason these cookies need to be round. Use any cookie cutters you like, but remember that simple shapes are easier to flour and, thus, are less likely to stick to the counter as you remove the cutouts from the counter. A rectangle with rounded ends would be reminiscent of the ladyfinger cookies in classic tiramisu.
• Modify the frosting: You could try out different pudding mixes to get different flavors and colors of frosting. Vanilla would be classic and easy to love, whereas pistachio would give you a fetching green color and a delicious flavor matchup with the coffee. If you choose pistachio, use vanilla extract in the cookies instead of lemon.

How to Store Lemon Tiramisu Cookies

Ideally, you’ll frost only the cookies you need and keep the rest of the cookies unfrosted for storage. Unfrosted cookies can be stored in a tin or tightly lidded container on the counter, but frosted cookies and extra frosting must be kept in the fridge.

I like to put partly filled piping bags, with the tip folded up slightly so that the frosting stays in the bag, into plastic quart containers for storage.

How long do lemon tiramisu cookies last?

Unfrosted cookies stored outside of the fridge are best within two to three days, so if you’d like them to last longer, pop them into the fridge from the get-go. The frosting alone, or frosted cookies kept cold, will be good for around three days.

Can you make lemon tiramisu cookies ahead of time?

The dough can be made three days in advance and refrigerated in a tightly wrapped disk. You can also slide the disk into a freezer bag and keep the dough frozen for up to three months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge before using.

The filling, on the other hand, is more perishable and can’t be frozen, so you should try to make it the day you want to use it.

Lemon Tiramisu Cookie Tips

How do you keep the cookies from spreading in the oven while baking?

There are a few different ways to prevent cookies from flattening and spreading too much in the oven. Starting with cold dough is one of them, so if you notice that the dough has warmed up significantly as you’ve been rolling and cutting, you could chill the cookies for a few minutes on the sheets before baking.

Using ungreased baking sheets helps, too, as does cooling the sheets between batches. (Putting dough directly onto a warm cookie sheet makes spreading much more likely.) That said, you should expect at least a little spread with these cookies.