Hannah Swensen is on a diet in this cozy mystery, but the Lemon Cookies are irresistible. Enjoy a tart sweet cookie and try to figure out who killed Ronni. She was a flirt who loved all men and hated all women.
This is book #11 of the Hannah Swensen cozy mystery series. This series is one of the best and longest series of cozy mysteries with recipes. Hannah and Andrea commit to early morning workouts only to find a murdered gym flirt waiting for them in the early hours.
Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke
Lois Brown’s Lemon Cookies
from a cozy mystery novel:
Cream Puff Murder
by Joanne Fluke
Book Outline and Tone:
Hannah is feeling pressure to lose some weight for her moms party because her mom bought her the wrong size dress. Andrea, Hannah’s sister, to the rescue. Andrea has agreed to join Hannah at the gym every morning to workout.
Sisters are great!
At the gym, the sisters take a class from Ronni Ward, a flirt who has been training the men at the sheriff’s office. Ronni is one of those women who will flirt with any man regardless of his relationship status and is extra harsh towards women. Mike, Hannah’s sometimes boyfriend, has some nerve to ask Hannah to make her famous cream puff so he can take them to a party. And that party turns out to be a birthday party for Ronni! As in all Hannah Swensen mysteries, karma comes calling for Ronni. Her party is ruined and she is found murdered.
Hannah spends the novel searching for Ronni’s killer and clearing the men around her. Author Joanne Fluke brings in a wide range of interesting characters (this is one of her best talents) to keep the reader and Hannah guessing. Keep reading because a hardy dose of catharsis awaits Hannah and the reader at the end.
The Best Quote:
“…she’d stopped using the Jacuzzi at night when she was alone. She said she was sure someone was spying on her in there.”
Point of View:
The novel is in third person focusing on Hannah. The reader does learn her thoughts.
The Author: Joanne Fluke
Joanne Fluke published her first Hannah Swenson novel, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, in 2001. Since then she has been a New York Times bestselling author several times. Some of her books have been made into movies on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel. Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery can be found online with Hallmark Movies. Joanne Fluke is active on Facebook and Twitter. She does many interviews with her local news station and posts them on her Youtube channel. If you want to see her take on the book and recipes, she has a Youtube channel that is dedicated to Raspberry Danish Mystery.
What is not to like?:
Most of us have been there, a special occasion and the desire to drop a few pounds to fit into the perfect outfit. However, even though it is relatable, it is a fine line to have a character weight obsessed. I like it better when Hannah enjoys her cookies and doesn’t worry too much about her figure.
The verdict:
Lois Brown’s Lemon Cookies are light, cake-like, delicious, and easy. They are a must bake! Hannah’s cozy mystery is a winner as well.
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
Lois Brown’s Lemon Cookies
Assemble the Ingredients
Hannah’s 1st Note: These cookies are wonderfully lemony and quite tart. You may want to sprinkle them with powdered sugar before you serve them to those who like them sweeter.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Use a quality zester to zest a lemon, then use a lemon press to squeeze the juice. I had a large lemon so it only took one for the juice needed in the cookie dough and for the glaze used for brushing the top of baked cookies. You may need 2 lemons.
Easy to read measure marks on inside of cup. Dishwasher safe.
Beat the butter and the sugar together until they’re light and fluffy.
Add the beaten egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix it all up together.
Mix in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
Mix in half of the flour and half of the milk.
That’s approximately a cup of flour and a quarter cup of milk. (You don’t have to be exact-just eyeball it.)
Stir everything all up, and then add the remaining flour and the remaining milk. Mix well.
Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Make these cookies small, about the size of a cherry. If you make them too large, they’ll spread out on the cookie sheet
and crumble when you remove them.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 14 minutes. (Mine took 13 minutes.)
Hannah’s 2nd Note: I use parchment paper because then I can just slide it onto a wire rack after the cookies come out of the oven.
While the first pan of cookies is baking, mix up the topping.
Heat the lemon juice just a bit in the microwave. (The sugar will dissolve more easily if the juice is warm.) Add the sugar and stir it all up.
Place the topping next to your wire cooling rack, along with a pastry brush.
When the cookies come out of the oven, remove them to a wire rack with a piece of foil placed under it or, if you’ve used parchment paper, just pull the paper with the cookies from the cookie sheet and onto the wire rack. Brush the topping onto the hot cookies. The faster you do this, the quicker the topping will dry into a glaze.
Yield: Approximately 4 dozen cookies, depending on cookie size.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: This recipe can be doubled.
Lois Brown's Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup softened butter (1 stick, 1/4 pound)
- ¾ cup white (granulated) sugar
- 1 egg, beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)
- 1 Tbsp Lemon zest (from 1-2 lemons)
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ⅔ cup flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
- ½ cup cup milk (I used whole milk)
Glaze Topping
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¾ cup white (granulated) sugar
Instructions
- Hannah's 1st Note: These cookies are wonderfully lemony and quite tart. You may want to sprinkle them with powdered sugar before you serve them to those who like them sweeter.
- Zest 1-2 lemons and squeeze their juice
- Beat the butter and the sugar together until they're light and fluffy.
- Add the beaten egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix it all up together.
- Mix in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
- Mix in half of the flour and half of the milk.That's approximately a cup of flour and a quarter cup of milk. (You don't have to be exact-just eyeball it.)
- Stir everything all up, and then add the remaining flour and the remaining milk. Mix well.
- Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Make these cookies small, about the size of a cherry. If you make them too large, they'll spread out on the cookie sheet and crumble when you remove them.
- Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 14 minutes. (Mine took 13 minutes.)
- Hannah's 2nd Note: I use parchment paper because then I can just slide it onto a wire rack after the cookies come out of the oven.
- Glaze Topping
- While the first pan of cookies is baking, mix up the topping.
- Heat the lemon juice just a bit in the microwave. (The sugar will dissolve more easily if the juice is warm.) Add the sugar and stir it all up. Place the topping next to your wire cooling rack, along with a pastry brush.
- When the cookies come out of the oven, remove them to a wire rack with a piece of foil placed under it or, if you've used parchment paper, just pull the paper with the cookies from the cookie sheet and onto the wire rack.
- Brush the topping onto the hot cookies. The faster you do this, the quicker the topping will dry into a glaze.
- Hannah's 3rd Note: This recipe can be doubled.
What would I do differently next time?
I would definitely double the batch. These were a huge hit in my household.
Lemon Tea Cookies from Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes by Karen Rose Smith
Red ‘N White Strawberry Cookies from The Cereal Murders by Diane Mott Davidson
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from Death of a Pumpkin Carver by Lee Hollis
Cocoa Snaps from Strawberry Shortcake Murder by Joanne Fluke.
