Noelle is four years younger than me (and about five years wiser). She and her husband live in West Virginia, where they’re obtaining advanced degrees in medicine, while also owning a house and raising an adorable 14-week old puppy. But despite the levels of responsibility she seems to exponentially reach, Noelle will always be my little sister. Forever, she’ll remain the doe-eyed girl with evenly cut bangs, who could make me laugh so hard I thought I’d never see straight again.
Noelle would agree that we can mark our childhood development by the different foods we ate and loved.
Ages 0-3: sweet potato purees, goldfish crackers, and mashed bananas, eggo waffles
Ages 3-7: french bread pizzas (always while watching Scooby Doo) flour tortillas
Ages 8-12: big domed bakery muffins (Noelle liked lemon poppyseed and I liked banana walnut)
Many of you are familiar with those jumbo muffins. The ones sold at grocery stores and cafes. The muffins which would never come from your grandmother’s 12-cup pan. Moist and hefty. Significantly sweet. Noelle and I loved them.
After school, we’d grab our respective favorite from the kitchen, wrap it in a paper towel, and carry our “snack” into the basement. There, we’d watch a movie, and our fingers would pinch off chunks of muffin, pulling away cake from its grease-stained wrapper. Occasionally, we’d grow tired of our selection, and we’d reach to grab the other’s.
Because Noelle and I were not ordinary sisters, we wouldn’t slap each other or sprout mean names. We shared the belief that we were connected in ways obvious and mysterious, and that this connection was worth honoring. So we shared our muffins readily.
Now, neither Noelle nor I indulge in jumbo muffins. We do, however, make and consume loaves of banana bread. Eat ice cream at odd hours of the day. And justify an extra slice of pie by promising our dogs we’ll take them on a long walk. I taught Noelle how to make our favorite sweet wheat rolls over the phone, and I felt like a proud parent when she texted me a picture. Our connection is still alive and strong…despite the fact one of us lives in Texas while the other lives in West Virginia.
And I think if we made a list of our current food obsessions, they’d be just as similar as they always have been.
Noelle and I talk about traveling together. Since we live so far apart, we don’t see each other nearly as much as we should, but hopefully this next summer we’ll take a trip abroad and stay in one of these gorgeous hand-picked hotels. Take a moment to visit that site and plot your next trip. I sure have! Noelle and I have our share of hotel memories. Most involve singing at odd hours of the night. But we’d love to visit England, eat cookies, and drink tea. I promise we’d be more responsible now.
These Lemon Poppyseed Cookies are in honor of Noelle (and her once-loved jumbo muffins). The shortbread is sweet and crunchy while the lemon curd toppy adds the perfect amount of tangy smoothness. I served these at a Cake Stand event on Thursday, and they the star of the evening.
Lemon Poppyseed Cookies
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 large lemon
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter pound
2 large eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1. Cream together powdered sugar and butter together until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, salt, and poppy seeds to butter mixture. With a large spoon, stir until all dry ingredients are incorporated into the butter mixture. Allow to chill for 30 minutes in refrigerator.
2. Meanwhile, make lemon curd: remove the zest of one lemon. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar. Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and refrigerate while baking cookies.
3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Form balls of dough (about 2 teaspoons per ball). Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheets. Make a thumbprint in each ball. Bake cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet for about 20 minutes, or until edges of cookies just begin to turn golden brown. Transfer baked cookies to wire rack to cool.
What a lovely looking cookie! I had a bad experience trying to make my own lemon curd. Well, not exactly a disaster, but let’s say that the recipe was supposed to be enough to cover a particular extension of shorbread dough, and… to make a long story short, I needed to make three batches! I wasn’t happy. Never made lemon curd again 😉
I am sure your cookies tasted like pure heaven!
Isn’t that the worst? I hate when I don’t end up with enough frosting for a cake recipe. I can so relate!
Sisters are the best! As are lemon treats. Even though my sisters go more the chocolate route, we get together to enjoy the company with our differing flavors. Good times!
The cookies look like little eggs, but in a very cute and delicious way.
I hope that you and your sister get to make the trip to England so that you can share all of the wonderful times and photos with us 🙂
I love lemon poppyseed muffins and your cookies look even better! The lemon curd puts them over the top!
Hi Monet, I love your lemon poppyseed cookies with lemon curd, it look so tempting.
Love your last picture ,very beautiful.
Have a nice week ahead, regards.
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Every time you write about your sisters, you make me smile and tear up a little bit, as my sister lives so far away (in Germany). We are still best friends and travelling with her is better than travelling with anyone else:)
Thanks for another great trip into your life!
Love the cookies!
Very authentic recipe Monet. Lemon and poppyseed cookies. Love the dish and boards they are presented in 🙂
These look amazing! I’ve had a recipe for lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies bookmarked for a while but for some reason haven’t gotten around to making them yet .. I’m glad I waited though because now I know to add lemon curd to the middle to make them even better – such a great idea!
I love anything with lemon and poppyseed but I’ve only ever seen that flavour combination in cakes. I really want to try it out in a cookie now!
Monet, I love how beautiful the bright yellow from the lemon looks against the blue cake stand. I can definitely imagine you selling gorgeous cake stands along with baked goods at your shop one day.
Lovely cookies and gorgeous combination!
Cheers,
Rosa
gorgeous cake stand and gorgeous cookies!
These cookies are adorable!
Ooh, anything with lemon curd makes me happy. 🙂
these cookies are lovely! can’t wait to make them!
That is such a sweet story. I have a friend that I talk to about travelling to all the time.. unfortunately we never travel! Loving these cookies. So unusual but the flavours are perfectly matched.
I love the idea of bumping the traditional lemon poppyseed combination up a notch with lemon curd! Yay for cookies!
Lemons with poppyseeds is such a lovely pairing. The lemon curd is a perfect filling!
Your lemon and poppyseed cookies look so delicious. It’s a shame you and your sister don’t live closer to each other. I have four sisters and three of us are in Sydney but the other two are overseas. We try to see each other as often as we can xx
Your story about your baby sis made me smile—and these cookies are just so happy! I don’t know which made me smile harder =) I can just *see* you guys, feet dangled reaching over to snag a bite of each others “snacks.” Love it!!!
My mouth waters terribly at the sight of your homemade lemon curd! Poppy and lemon are sure meant to be together!
What a nice post for your sister!! So nice Monet. I remember those Lemon Poppyseed muffins. Oh how I loved them and if I had one today I am sure it would go right to my muffin top! haha 😉
The cookies are splendid. Lemon is one of my absolute favorite flavors
Your story is always very charming and I enjoy reading it. The shortbread with poppyseed, now that sounds delicious and there is dangerous lemon curd… I can really enjoy the curd itself, and I cannot stop once I start eating it. These are lovely cookies, wish I have some with me for tea time!
To have such a strong relation with your sister is a blessing! The cookies are adorable but most important is your love for your sister!
You and your sister Noelle sounds so wonderful together! Isn’t it great having a sibling that you get along so well with it seems like music? And speaking of little sisters: my younger sister will always be my leeetle sister, despite the fact that she’s nearly 6 ft tall 😉
I can see why these cookies were a hit! Love the combo of lemon and poppyseed. I’ve always wanted to try making lemon curd myself, so I think I’ll start with your recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Dear Monet, these cookies look like little bites of sunshine. What a beautiful treat for your sister. Blessings my friend, Catherine xo
Monet,
Poppyseed and Lemon curd are delightful together, especially in your Lemom Poppyseed cookies. You are lucky to have a sweet sister like Nicole I have a two brothers, that aren’t as close as a sister would be.
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Dear Monet, I ‘ve a younger sister too. She lives in Rome and I live in London. Reading your post was like reading a little bit of my story with my sister (ps we watched Scooby – Doo and ate pizza too!). Loverly biscuits, I like poppy seeds and lemon flavour together…
What an awesome tribute to your fabulous-sounding sister. Makes me wish I had a sister growing up! =) These cookies look absolutely divine + I love the addition of lemon curd. What a treat! Will have to give these a try soon!
I can’t even remember the last time I had one of those giant muffins, but I do remember how much I loved the blueberry ones. Your cookies are so beautiful–they look like eggs!
I want to gobble up each and every one of this delicious cookies! Love the lemon curd on top!
these are so cute! make me 🙂
it is incredibly sweet for you to make these cookies for Noelle! I love the idea of the lemon curd filling, Monet! 🙂
What a lovely, lovely combination. thumbprint cookies are always my favorite. 🙂
Traveling with your sister would definitely be something to look forward to. My sister and I have been to New York a couple of times together, and those trips were so much fun!
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I’m smiling at the thought of two adorably precious girls munching on baked goods in front of the tv. I picture my own little girl as her little fingers pinch off small pieces of a muffin or a cookie while she is indulging in a movie. I love that you two are so close. I will save this recipe and I might just give it a try. I still have lemons here begging for a purpose. 🙂 I hope you are having a beautiful day sweet mama!
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