These italian lemon cookies are soft olive oil lemon cookies, filled with a tangy gooey lemon curd, then dipped in a lemon basil syrup. The herby basil, zesty tangy lemon, and earthy olive oil flavors make for a cookie that stands out both in flavor and appearance! They're inspired by Italian peach wedding cookies so they're shaped like lemons. These cookies make the perfect lemon themed individual dessert for any celebration. They're truly a showstopper!
Try my lemon curd thumbprint cookies for even more lemon curd cookie goodness.
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🍋 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
- Lemon olive oil cookies: Bright, zesty lemon and earthy olive oil create a delicious, flavorful cookie dough.
- Lemon curd filling: As you bite into the cookie, you bite into a center filled with tangy, gooey, smooth lemon curd. A delightful lemoney surprise!
- Soft cookies: These are soft, cake-like cookies. They're almost like individual pastries.
- Limoncello basil syrup: The cookies are dipped in a lemoney, basil syrup with a touch of limoncello. This adds another layer of herby, lemon flavor to the cookies and keeps them soft and moist for days.
📝 Key ingredients
Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.
Olive oil: I like how these lemon cookies have a subtle olive oil flavor, so I opted for an extra virgin olive oil with a more robust flavor. If you don't like the flavor of olive oil, you can choose a light olive oil or even a vegetable oil.
Lemons: You're going to need lemon zest for the cookies, and whole lemons for the syrup.
Lemon curd: Make my go to tangy and zesty lemon curd, or pick up a premade lemon curd at your local grocery store for a shortcut.
Fresh basil: The syrup is infused with a bit of basil for a subtle herby touch. You can add more or less basil if you prefer. You're also going to need fresh basil sprigs and leaves for the "lemon leaves." Since fresh basil wilts after an hour or two, make sure to add them in just before serving.
All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
Limoncello: is an Italian liqueur made using lemon zest. It has a strong, fragrant lemon flavor and adds another layer of lemon to the cookies. You're not adding enough to the cookies to make them taste strongly of liqueur - it's more of a subtle flavor. You can leave it out if you don't want to include any alcohol in the Italian lemon cookies, or simmer it out in the syrup.
👩🍳 How to make italian lemon cookies
Lemon olive oil cookie dough step by step
Step 1: Rub the lemon zest and sugar together until the sugar is moistened and fragrant.
Step 2: Add eggs into the sugar and beat with an electric mixer until thick, creamy, and lightened in color.
Step 3: Add olive oil, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix some more.
Step 4: Sift the flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients and fold the cookie dough with a spatula until it forms a soft cookie dough.
Pop the cookie dough into the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C), and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Step 5: Use a 2 tablespoon scoop to portion the cookie dough into 24 cookies.
Step 6: Roll the portioned cookie dough into smooth balls between your palms. If the dough is a bit sticky, moisten your hands lightly with a bit of water.
Step 7: Place the Italian lemon cookie dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Use your fingers to pinch two opposite sides of each cookie to form a lemon shape.
Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes - they're ready when the bottoms are golden brown.
Step 8: As soon as the cookies are cool enough to touch, use a small sharp knife to cut out the centers of the cookies from the bottom to create space for lemon curd.
Lemon basil syrup step by step
Step 1: Combine 1 cup of granulated sugar, water, basil sprigs, and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan.
Step 2: Use a sharp knife or potato peeler to "peel" the lemons. Add the lemon zest into the saucepan. Squeeze the lemon juice right into the saucepan as well.
Step 3: Heat the syrup on medium heat and let it simmer it for a few minutes before removing the saucepan from the heat. Let the syrup cool before adding limoncello.
Strain the basil and lemon zest out of the syrup.
Step 4: Divide the syrup into two bowls. Color one bowl with yellow food coloring and the second with green food coloring. Make the syrups very brightly colored so that the color shows up.
Italian lemon cookie assembly step by step
Step 1: I like to fill all of the cookies, then dip them in the syrup. Match up the lemon halves so that they match in size. Fill both halves with lemon curd.
Step 2: Next, press both cookie halves together to form a whole lemon shape. If any lemon curd oozes out, wipe it away with a clean finger.
Step 4: Working with one cookie at a time, briefly dunk one lemon cookie halfway into the yellow syrup. Turn it to the other side and briefly dunk it into the green syrup. Shake excess syrup off and place the cookies onto a tray.
Step 5: Once all of the lemon olive oil cookies are dipped into the syrup, sprinkle both sides with granulated sugar (for a less sweet coating) or roll the cookies in sugar (for a sweeter coating). Then, insert a basil leaf into one side of each cookie to resemble lemon leaves.
✔️ Expert cookie tips
- Let the cookie dough chill: Chilling the cookie dough for at least an hour helps hydrate the flour and makes the dough easier to work with.
- Bake the cookies just enough: Make sure you set a timer while you bake the cookies and keep a close eye on them! They need to be firm enough to hold their shape as they're dipped in syrup, and soft enough to be able to carve out the bottoms.
- Don't over-soak the cookies with syrup: A brief dunk into the syrup; in and out, is all the cookies need. If you dunk them in the syrup longer, you risk the cookies getting soggy and falling apart.
🥄 Make ahead and storage
These Italian lemon cookies are great to make ahead! Here's a break down of how you can make ahead each component:
- lemon olive oil cookie dough: This can be made the day before. Cover the bowl of cookie dough tightly so that the top doesn't dry out and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours
- Baked lemon olive oil cookies: If you want to bake the cookies ahead of time and fill them later, they store well in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 2 days. It's best to store them with parchment paper in between each layer because they tend to stick to each other when stored.
- Lemon basil syrup: The syrup can be made a few days ahead of time. Store the syrup in an airtight jar or container in the fridge. Then when you're ready, you can divide the syrup between two bowls, add food coloring, and dip the cookies.
The fully assembled, filled and dipped Italian lemon cookies store really well! Keep them in a single layer so that they don't stick together. Store in an airtight container or cover the tray tightly with wrap to prevent them from drying out. The cookies will stay soft and moist, refrigerated, for up to 2 days.
If making these for an event, it's best to fill and dip the cookies the day before and store them in the fridge until you're ready to serve them. They do well at room temperature for a long time, so they're great for weddings or events where the cookies can sit out for more than a few hours.
❔ What can I fill italian lemon cookies with?
These cookies are inspired by Italian peach wedding cookies which are typically filled with a thick custard or peach preserves. I was deciding between a lemon curd or lemon custard for these cookies but ultimately decided on a lemon curd because it really packs a lot of tangy lemon flavor. Lemon marmelade would also be delicious!
Here are some other filling options that you might want to check out:
- Raspberry curd
- Blueberry curd
- Strawberry curd
- Thick salted caramel or dulce de leche
- Lemon or orange maremelade
- Your favorite jam
- A thick, creamy custard
📖 Recipe FAQs
You will have quite a bit of leftover syrup because it's easier to dip the cookies when you have more syrup than you need. You can strain out any cookie bits and store the syrup for a few days in the fridge - add it into summer drinks and lemonade. I wouldn't store it for longer than that because it will go bad faster than a typical syrup since you dipped the cookies inside of it.
I haven't tried it, but replacing the flour with 1:1 gluten free flour should work well. If you try it out, let us know how it went in the comments!
Yes you can fill them with a thick custard, your favorite jam, dulce de leche, or caramel. Anything that's thick and sticky to hold the cookies together will work well.
Yes you can, just leave it out. They are better with the limoncello, but still delicious without.
Yes you can, it just adds a subtle refreshing herby flavor that works with the tangy zesty lemon so well. But if you don't like basil, you don't have to include it.
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📖 Recipe
Italian Lemon Cookies
Equipment
- saucepan
Ingredients
Lemon Olive Oil Cookie Dough
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 lemons zested
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup olive oil extra virgin for more flavor or light for less flavor
- 3 tablespoons milk whole milk or milk of your choice
- 3 cups all purpose flour 360g
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Lemon Basil Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups water
- 5 sprigs fresh basil optional
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 lemons
- ¼ cup limoncello optional
- yellow food coloring as needed
- green food coloring as needed
Filling and Assembly
- 1 cup lemon curd
- ½ cup granulated sugar for coating the cookies
- 12 fresh basil leaves for the lemon "leaves"
Instructions
Lemon Olive Oil Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest and sugar together until the sugar is moistened and fragrant.1 cup granulated sugar, 2 lemons
- Add eggs into the sugar and beat with an electric mixer until thick, creamy, and lightened in color - for about 5 minutes.2 large eggs
- Add olive oil, milk, vanilla extract, and salt into the egg mixture and mix to combine.½ cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Sift the flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients and fold the cookie dough with a spatula until it forms a soft cookie dough.3 cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Pop the cookie dough into the fridge for 1-2 hours, to give the flour plenty of time to hydrate.
- Once the dough is almost done chilling, preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C), and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a 2 tablespoon scoop to portion the cookie dough into about 24 cookies.
- Then, roll the portioned cookie dough into smooth balls between your palms. The dough might be a bit sticky - if it sticks to your hands, moisten your hands lightly with a bit of water.
- Place the cookie dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Use your fingers to pinch two opposite sides of each cookie to form a lemon shape.
- Bake the cookies on the parchment lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between each cookie, for 11-12 minutes. The cookies are ready when the bottoms are golden brown on the bottoms. Don't underbake them or they will fall apart during assembly.
- As soon as the cookies are cool enough to touch, use a small sharp knife to cut out the centers of the cookies from the bottom. You want to do this while they're still warm or else the cookies can break apart. This creates space for filling them with lemon curd.
Lemon Basil Syrup
- Combine 1 cup of granulated sugar, water, basil sprigs, and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan.1 cup granulated sugar, 2 cups water, 5 sprigs fresh basil, 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- Use a sharp knife or potato peeler to "peel" the lemons. Only remove the yellow zest of the lemon, leaving the white pith on the lemon. Add the lemon zest into the saucepan. Squeeze the lemon juice right into the saucepan as well.2 lemons
- Heat the syrup on medium heat, and bring it to a simmer. Simmer it for a few minutes before removing the saucepan from the heat. Let the syrup cool a bit before adding limoncello. If you want to reduce the amount of alcohol, you can add the limoncello while it simmers. Strain the basil and lemon zest out of the syrup.¼ cup limoncello
- Divide the syrup into two bowls. Color one bowl of syrup with yellow food coloring and the second with green food coloring. You're going to need to make the syrups very brightly colored so that the color shows up. Liquid and gel food coloring will both work well.yellow food coloring, green food coloring
Assembly
- I like to fill all of the cookies, then dip them in the syrup. Match up the lemon halves so that they match in size. Fill both halves with lemon curd. Be careful not to overfill the cookies because the lemon curd will just ooze out.1 cup lemon curd
- Next, press both cookie halves together to form a whole lemon shape. If any lemon curd oozes out, wipe it away with a clean finger.
- Working with one cookie at a time, briefly dunk one lemon cookie halfway into the yellow syrup. Turn it to the other side and briefly dunk it into the green syrup. Shake any excess syrup off and place the cookies onto a tray for the syrup to soak into the cookie.
- Once all of the cookies are dipped into the syrup, sprinkle both sides of the cookies with granulated sugar (for a less sweet coating) or roll the cookies in sugar (for a sweeter coating). Then, insert a basil leaf and bit of stem into one side of each cookie to resemble lemon leaves. It's important to do this just before serving.½ cup granulated sugar, 12 fresh basil leaves
Notes
- lemon olive oil cookie dough: This can be made the day before. Cover the bowl of cookie dough tightly so that the top doesn't dry out and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours
- Baked lemon olive oil cookies: If you want to bake the cookies ahead of time and fill them later, they store well in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 2 days. It's best to store them with parchment paper in between.
- Lemon basil syrup: The syrup can be made a few days ahead of time. Store the syrup in an airtight jar or container in the fridge. Then when you're ready, you can divide the syrup between two bowls, add food coloring, and dip the cookies.
- Keep the cookies in a single layer so that they don't stick together. Store in an airtight container or cover the tray tightly with wrap to prevent them from drying out. The cookies will stay soft and moist, refrigerated, for up to 2 days.
- If making these for an event, it's best to fill and dip the cookies the day before and store them in the fridge until you're ready to serve them.
- Chilling the cookie dough for at least an hour
- Bake the cookies just enough - don't over or underbake them
- A brief dunk into the syrup; in and out, is all the cookies need. We don't want soggy cookies.
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