Last week I was out in Bountiful and ended up at Cutlers drive through for a quick sandwich on my way home. The second to the last cookie on the menu was a lemon meltaway and I just couldn't resist. It was a lovely, melty shortbread cookie covered in lemon icing. It was a good cookie, but it was seriously lacking in the lemon pucker department.
Lemons were on sale at Sunflower Market and I was still jonesing for a good lemon meltaway, so I found this recipe and made some for my husband to take to his work potluck. They are tasty and tart little things, with a fabulous tangy, buttery, lemon infused frosting. Definitely lemon enough!
The original recipe is from Land O' Lakes butter, but after making them, I thought the recipe needed some tweaking... I felt the shortbread needed to be a little bit sweeter and with their instructions I ended up with big chunks of cornstarch in the dough that left crunchy spots in my cookies and made them stick to the cookie sheets. The purpose of the cornstarch in this recipe is to add an extra crumbly/melty ratio to the cookie, so it should be mixed in thoroughly. So I've added a little extra sugar and cut back the cornstarch just a little, and added an extra sifting/whisking step to help get the cornstarch lumps out before you start mixing.
Also, the recipe didn't make enough of the fabulous frosting for all the darling little cookies. The frosting is what sets these apart from your normal little powdered sugar meltaways, so I suggest making an extra half batch to frost all your cookies. And don't be afraid to try swapping out the lemon for lime or orange!
Lemon Meltaways
1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
~Sift together the flour, cornstarch and powdered sugar (I just run mine through a fine sieve), whisk together completely with a wire whisk.
~Put the butter, lemon juice and lemon peel in a mixing bowl.
~Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until well mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. The mixture should come together into a dough.
~Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a 8x1 inch log. Roll the log into a piece of waxed paper to wrap. Put the logs in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour, or until firm.
~Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
~Cut each log into 1/4 inch slices using a sharp knife. Put the cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart.
~Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until cookies are set. (They will not brown.)
~Cool cookies completely, then frost with Lemon Butter Frosting.
Lemon Butter Frosting
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon lemon juice
~Mix all ingredients together on medium speed until fluffy. (I added a little more powdered sugar to make my icing thicker.)
~You may want to make an extra half batch, since this wasn't quite enough for all the cookies.
Makes about 4 Dozen
