High Tea Lemon Cookies

Another recipe for the Josi Kilpack Culinary Mystery Series...High Tea Lemon Cookies. These were absolutely amazing! So incredibly rich, you only need about two to satisfy; three will likely make you ill. The lemon makes them fresh, and if you are patient, I'm told they are even better the next day. Of course, I made these the day before I went out of town so I only had them on day one (and I had four, so I wasn't interested in any more). I will definitely make these again (and I commit myself to only eat two...at a time). If you're looking for a slightly different cookie, try a batch of these.

High Tea Lemon Cookies

Cookies

2 cups butter (room temperature)

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour

11/2 cups cornstarch (this is not a typo)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour and cornstarch and beat until well combined. Do NOT refrigerate.

Roll by hand into 1-inch balls or use a well-packed scoop, placing cookies about an inch apart as they do not spread much while baking.

Bake 15 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets until bottom edges are light brown. Cool on wire racks before frosting with lemon glaze (below).

Makes about 5 dozen small, delicate cookies.

Lemon Glaze

4 tablespoons butter

3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest (get zest from lemon before juicing)

1/4 to 1/3 cup lemon juice*

21/2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl combine butter, zest, juice, and sugar. Stir until well mixed. Place a piece of wax paper beneath the wire racks where the cookies have been cooling and drizzle glaze over cookies.

* For best results when using lemons, choose the largest lemon you can find and roll it on the counter for about a minute before juicing in order to get as much juice as possible. Zest only the yellow part of the lemon peel; the white portion leaves a bitter taste.