Luscious Lemon Bites and a Lemon Poppy Giveaway!

These lemon bites are indeed luscious!  They remind me of a crumbly, lemon shortbread cookie.  I imagine them stacked neatly on a dainty dish and served with afternoon tea.  Mmmmm....So here are the tips I would offer with these cookies: 1. They worked out better for me when I used room temperature butter.  If you are softening the butter using the microwave, be very careful not to let it melt.  Also, avoid overhandling the dough.  It is necessary to press the dough into balls since it is kind of crumbly, but if the butter melts from your hands or you use even slightly melted butter, the cookies may turn out flat.  2.  Take them out of the oven when the edges are slightly golden brown and then allow to fully cool before handling.  They break more when they are hot.  They were done in 13 minutes in my oven.  3.  As with all cookies, show restraint and don't eat the whole batch in one sitting. (Do as I say, not as I do)

How many of us have had a lemon of a day, a month or even a year?  Hands down every single one of us, right?  These cookies came from a truly wonderful little cookbook: "When Life Gives You Lemons." Ali Eisenach from lemonpoppycake.com is responsible for this fabulous creation.  The premise of lemon poppy is to put life into perspective and have a good attitude... while enjoying good food!  When life gives you lemons, why not make Lemon Poppy Cake?  Or Luscious Lemon Bites?  Or any of the other yummy looking lemon recipes found in her little cookbook? She now has two other books: When Life  Gives Your Friends and When Life Gives You a Chocolate Craving.  All three are packed with 20 pages of tried and true recipes with mouthwatering pictures.  They are printed on high quality paper with UV coating, too (which means spills wipe off, they don't soak into the pages - a major plus if you're messy in the kitchen like me!).  You can pick them up at Tai Pan or you can order them on www.lemonpoppycake.com for $8.99 each.  A perfect Valentine's Day gift for the cook in your life!

So now for the giveaway...

Lemon Poppy is offering all three cookbooks to the lucky winner.  To enter, leave a comment giving Ali ideas for future books.  Fill in the blank: "When Life Gives You _________."  For a second entry, "Like" Lemon Poppy on facebook and then leave a second comment saying you did it.  ("Like" The Sisters Cafe if you haven't already, too!)  As always, the winner will be chosen randomly.  A winner will be announced on Wednesday, January 19th.  Good Luck!

Luscious Lemon Bites
Submitted by Mindy ~ The Sisters Cafe
Recipe Source: www.lemonpoppycake.com

2 cups of butter, softened
2/3 cup powered sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups cornstarch

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 mix until well combined.  Roll dough into one inch balls.  Bake 15 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet until bottom edges of cookies are light brown.  Cool and frost with lemon glaze.

Creamy Lemon Glaze
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Combine butter, lemon zest, juice, and powdered sugar.  Stir until well combined.  Place cookies on wax paper.  Cool.  Drizzle glaze over the tops.