Thursday, November 22, 2007

Nic’s Lime Sugar Cookies

Nic's lime cookies

Isn’t it curious how much our taste for things changes over the years?

I was thinking about it the other day, while watching “Friends”. I used to love that sitcom, wouldn’t miss it for the world. Now, I don’t find it funny anymore. I watched two episodes, one right after the other – not a single laugh.

As a kid, my favorite flavor was chocolate. I loved chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, chocolate ice cream… A while later, back in my teenage years, I started my love affair with citrus flavors. And that love has grown stronger and stronger.

These cookies were on my "to try" list forever and I’m glad I finally made them – they’re irresistible! Believe me, you won’t be able to have only one, no matter how hard you try.

I borrowed Nicole’s recipe and used lime instead of lemon - the result was really good. I want to make them again, next time using lemons like she did.

Nic, thank you for such a wonderful recipe, sweetie!

Nic's lime cookies

Nic’s Lime Sugar Cookies

2 cups (400g) sugar, divided
grated zest of 2 large limes
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 ¾ cups (385g) flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Prepare lemon sugar: In a mini food processor, blend ½ cup (100g) sugar with 1 teaspoon lime zest. Pulse several times until the zest is incorporated into the sugar. Put sugar mixture in a shallow bowl and stir lightly with a fork to break up any clumps. Set aside.

Prepare cookie dough: In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and remaining 1 ½ cups (300g) sugar. Blend in eggs, one at a time then add vanilla, lime juice, and remaining lime zest. Add flour mixture, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition, until all flour is incorporated.

Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF and line 2 baking sheets with waxed or baking paper.

Shape the cookies: Shape one tablespoonful* of dough into a ball and roll in lime sugar. Place ball of dough on cookie sheet and press down lightly with the bottom of a glass until cookie is about 1.25cm (½ in) thick (mine were thinner) – it might help to press the glass first in the sugar then onto the dough, then it won’t stick. Repeat.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes at 175ºC/350ºF – I baked mine for 14 minutes.

Makes: 55 large cookies

* Nicole made giant cookies and used 2 tablespoons of dough into each cookie – she got 24.

33 comments:

brian said...

These sound and look really good. I wonder how they would taste with orange? I made a sugar cookie recipe recently with orange and it was pretty good, albeit subtle. With the zest in this recipe, I imagine the lime taste is pretty easy to pick out.

T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types said...

Your love of citrus is "true love," Patricia! I like the idea of using lime - I'll bet it's a very tart and fragrant cookie!

Anonymous said...

Your cookies look perfect, and as much as I love lemon, lime sounds like an even more interesting flavor for a sugar cookie.

Graeme said...

on cookies after Lemon Pasta - Count me in, please.

Cynthia said...

Pat, your cookies are always to delicate and angelic.

Manggy said...

Oh, why'd you have to disparage Friends in the process? Ha ha :)
Looks good! I would probably make 24 giant ones too, so I don't feel like a pig eating "55". Hee

Anh said...

Yunm! I just got some lime from the market... ;)

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Lime cookies sound so incredibly refreshing! What a perfect idea, to balance the sugar with the citrus. I will absolutely have to try these.

Peabody said...

These look like they would be great with tea.

Pat said...

Oh Thanks for this recipe. They sound really delecious and look so too!!! And I like Brian's suggestion of using orange too. YUM!!!

Anonymous said...

How lovely! And a great alternative to the usual, plain old sugar cookie, too.

Anonymous said...

I'm adding this to my holiday cookie roster. I bet these are delicious and I love how the little specks of lime zest are visible in the cookie.

Deborah said...

What a brilliant idea to use lime instead of lemon! I'm gonna have to try these out - I have had a growing love for citrus lately, too.

Mallow said...

I know what you mean about the changing tastes. The same thing has happened to me the past few years with citrus. (And mushrooms! But I still hate olives...) I am definitely going to try these cookies!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

The lime sounds good to me! Very pretty cookies.

Baking Fiend said...

this definately looks good! *adding it on to my to-do list* ;-)

Patricia Scarpin said...

Brian, that's a good idea - maybe increasing the amount of zest would compensate for the little amount of juice (if using orange).

T.W., it is! :)

Julie, lime is so common here, my friend.

Graeme, you are so welcome!

Cynthia, thank you, dear!

Manggy, sorry for that! :)
I spread the 55 around, definitely don't need all those extra calories! :)

Anh, go ahead and make something delicious, darling - as usual!

Lydia, the lime sugar was to die for!

Pea, good idea!

Pat, thank you!

Hannah, the smell is heavenly.

Butta Buns, that is thanks to my new Microplane - what a perfect kitchen gadget! :)

Deb, you definitely should, dear!

Mallow, I love olives! :)

Tanna, thank you, sweetie!

Baking Fiend, go ahead and try them!

cookworm said...

I've also been meaning to try those for ages...thank you for putting them back on my radar. ;) They look fabulous.

Cookie baker Lynn said...

I know what you mean. Citrus sweets are never cloying like chocolate can be. Your cookies look heavenly!

african vanielje said...

Now that's what I call a biscuit!! Because it's all my favourites, and because we call it a biscuit, not a cookie.

Anonymous said...

beautiful! I love anything with lime or lemon.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Cookworm, they are really good, give them a try!

Lynn, they are sweet but refreshing at the same time.

Vanielje, a biscuit then - good to know you like them! Thank you for visiting!

Syrie, me too, sweetie! :)

Coffee and Vanilla said...

Very nice cookies Patricia :)

Have a great weekend, Margot

davidbdesign said...

I tried these and they are great- but I took them a couple steps further. I sprinkled just a few grains of kosher salt on each one before baking, then used the remaining lime sugar (with some lime juice) to make a glaze to drizzle over them after baking. I have decided that this version is actually a "margarita cookie"! The tiny bit of additional saltiness is really fun, though.

Anonymous said...

I made these tonight and they are absolutely amaaazing. Not too sweet at all. I used turbinado sugar to make the lime sugar that coated the cookies so that it had a coarser texture and more pronounced look. Easy, simple, and perfect.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Alli, thank you so much for letting me know! I'm glad to hear you like the cookies, they were quite a hit around here.
Thank you!

Nicole W said...

Well, I am a year or two late, but I wanted to let you know I made these today! They are completely amazing. I only had two small limes, so lots of juice and not much zest. I only had enough zest for the lime sugar and none to put in the cookies so I doubled the amount of juice, added a couple tbl of flour to help with the extra liquid, and refrigerated the dough for about three hours (and only took out enough for each tray as I was ready for it).

They spread a lot, perhaps because of the extra juice, but they are great! Looking forward to trying them closer to your recipe next time. I know they are going to be a hit at this picnic either way. Thanks!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Hi, Nicole!
I'm so glad to hear you like the cookies, yay! I love the idea of adding more juice (I'm quite crazy for citrus flavors).
Thank YOU for letting me know how the recipe turned out!

Shannon said...

These are great! I even made them gluten-free!

If someone else wants to make them GF, here are some things I learned:

*Metal baking pan results weren't that good. A baking stone yielded MUCH better results. The baking/parchment paper was also very important--the cookies were crumbly when warm, so the best way to cool the cookies was to gently pull the whole paper onto the cooling rack.

*I'm guessing that any favorite GF all-purpose flour would work nicely. I used my own mix: 1 3/4 c. brown rice flour (home-milled & frozen so it's fresh/no spoiled taste); 1/4 c. each tapioca flour, sorghum flour, amaranth flour, & Bob's Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Flour; 1 tsp. Ener-G egg replacer.

*If you keep your whole-grain flours cold, I'm assuming it's best to bring to room temp. before making batter.

*I added some "True lime" to the butter/sugar mix (1-3 packets) to increase the lime flavor, and it worked. Not my idea--got it from another person on another recipe.

*Yielded a sparkly sweet/tart cookie that was a little crisp around the edges and softer in the center. Delicious!

Happy GF baking! Thanks for the great recipe!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Dear Shannon, thank you so much for your precious info! I'm sure several of the readers will find them very useful.
xx

Anonymous said...

I made these cookies using vegetable oil instead of butter because my son is allergic to milk. They came out fantastic. I substituted 1 cup of oil for the 1 cup of butter. I also added 1/4 cup plain, unsweetened soymilk (milk free baking tends to be dry). The cookies are excellent! Definitely use parchment paper though, butter-free cookies tend to stick. These slid off the parchment without trouble though.

Thank you for this recipe!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Hey, Anonymous, thank YOU for letting me know how the recipe turned out! And tks for sharing your spin on it!

Vaish P. said...

Thank you for such an amazing recipe! I just made this recipe yesterday. I love these cookies! I love how light they are and how the lime zest gives them a kick! I have post about it on my own blog, if you would like to see. My blog is called D.I.Y. Culinary School (www.diyculinaryschool.com).

Thanks again for such an awesome recipe!

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