Lovely Lemon Bar Cookies

Preheat oven to 350° F, rack in the middle position.

2 cups flour (no need to sift)

1 cup cold butter (2 sticks, ½ pound)

½ cup powdered (confectioners’) sugar (no need to sift, unless it’s got big lumps)

4 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

2 cups white (granulated) sugar

8 tablepoons lemon juice (½ cup)

1 teaspoon or so of zest (optional) (zest is finely grated lemon peel)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 Tablespoons flour (that’s ¼ cup—don’t bother to sift)

Cut each stick of butter into eight pieces. Zoop it up with the flour and the powdered sugar in a food processor until it looks like coarse cornmeal (just like the first step in making a piecrust). Spread it out in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan (that’s a standard sheet cake pan) and pat it down with your hands.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Remove from oven. (Don’t turn off oven!)

Mix eggs with white sugar. Add lemon juice (and zest, if you want to use it). Add salt and baking powder and mix. Then add flour and mix thoroughly. (This will be runny—it’s supposed to be.)

Pour this mixture on top of the pan you just baked and stick it back into the oven. Bake at 350 degrees F. for another 30 to 35 minutes. Then remove from the oven and sprinkle on additional powdered sugar.

Let cool thoroughly and cut into brownie-sized bars.

Brought these to the pizza party following Mike Kingston’s move, the day after Bill solved the double-homicide case and got his promotion. (I’m a good sister-in-law. I gave him every speck of the credit.)

Index of Cookie Recipes

Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies

Regency Ginger Crisps

Pecan Chews

Black and Whites

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Delights

Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies

Lovely Lemon Bar Cookies

Please turn the page for an exciting bonus novella and additional recipes from Joanne Fluke!

The Cookie Jar
Lake Eden, MN

Joanne Fluke

Hannah Swensen Mystery Series

Kensington Publishing Corporation

New York, NY

Dear Joanne,

It seems like forever since I’ve seen you, now that you’ve packed up and moved to Southern California. When are you coming back to Lake Eden for a visit? You have friends here, you know. And I really miss our morning coffee at The Cookie Jar.

I’m so glad you’re finally telling Candy’s story! I was surprised you didn’t write about it when it actually happened, only two weeks after I helped Bill solve his first double homicide case, but I guess you were busy writing the other books in my biography.

Now that I think about it, I believe I know why you waited so long to write Candy’s story. It’s because there’s no murder. Just think about it, Jo…you’ve written about murder in every single book. It’s even in every title! There’s this one, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, and Strawberry Shortcake Murder, Blueberry Muffin Murder, Lemon Meringue Pie Murder, Fudge Cupcake Murder, Sugar Cookie Murder, Peach Cobbler Murder, Cherry Cheesecake Murder, and Key Lime Pie Murder. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in clinical psychology to realize that you’re obsessing about homicide. Even Mayor Bascomb noticed. Now, both of us know that Lake Eden is a very nice place to live. And while it’s true that we have a lot of homicides for such a small town, we don’t want people to get the idea that it’s the murder capital of the world, do we? One other thing…could you make it perfectly clear that I don’t enjoy finding dead bodies, despite what Mother thinks?