It’s lime time
Key lime pie, the smooth/creamy/tangy nirvana of tropical desserts, is a Florida restaurant cliché. You can’t travel 10 miles in the Sunshine State without finding a menu offering Key Lime Pie as a featured dessert. And why not? It’s sweet, it’s rich, and it has the ability to tickle your tongue with its assertive sour-yet-tasty flavor. Key lime pie is what would happen if you combined a margarita with Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla.
But Key lime pie has its downside. It’s not something you’d make every day. Any kind of pie, no matter how basic, is kind of a project. And it’s not easily transportable. I mean, you wouldn’t stick a slice of Key lime pie in your backpack and take it on a 10-mile hike. Or grab a slice to munch on in the car.
Enter lime cookies. They have that same wonderful lime flavor (even if they’re not strictly Key lime, but just plain old Persian lime). Stop right there if you like: coat ’em with confectioners’ sugar, and they’re starkly sweet-sour. But add a smear of white chocolate icing (or white chocolate chips inside), and they edge closer to Key lime pie-dom. Sweet-sour, creamy-crunchy, and eminently portable: that’s Luscious Lime Cookies.
Everyone has one of these catchall spots in the kitchen, right? The birthday candles, camera batteries, half-used Splenda packets spilling powder… I also use this spot for baking ingredients that I tend to forget unless they’re in my face. Thus the tart & sour flavor; added to coarse sugar and sprinkled on cookies, it gives them that mouth-puckering, Sourpatch Kids taste. And Bakewell Cream, soul of my favorite Maine biscuit recipe. Italian flour is a standby for thin-crust pizza. And then there’s the lime powder. I don’t make a whole lot of lime stuff, but my mother-in-law loves these lime cookies, so I keep the powder in plain view to remind me to make them when I’m heading south for a visit.
If you’re a lime lover, these ingredients should be in your pantry. OK, let me head off your questions right now: Can I make these cookies without lime oil and lime powder? Sure. They won’t taste the same. Grated lime rind can only do so much. These are extra-strong concentrates; a little goes a long way. Plus, with the price of limes these days, I’d rather save them for my drinks. You know, like limeade!
So let’s make Luscious Lime Cookies. I’ll show you three options for finishing them—two with white chocolate, one with extra lime flavor.
First, combine the butter, sugar, lime powder and lime oil, and salt, mixing till smooth.
Then add the flour to make a nice, smooth dough.
Drop the cookies by the teaspoonful onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Stagger them, as pictured, so they don’t run into each other while they’re baking. By the way, did you know that “teaspoonful,” in cookie-land, actually measures 2 level measuring teaspoons? The original teaspoon measure was simply a standard spoon—equivalent to 2 of our measuring teaspoons today.
Here they are, all nicely lined up and ready to bake.
Bake the cookies till they’re starting to brown around the edges, but still blonde in the center.
Now, if you choose to coat these in sugar rather than frost with white chocolate, place confectioners’ sugar and lime powder in a large bag. After the cookies have cooled for about 10 minutes, put them into the bag 5 or 6 at a time, and gently shake to coat with the sugar.
Place them on a rack. Notice that some of the sugar soaks into the warm cookies. That’s OK; you’re going to coat them again.
Once the cookies are completely cool, coat them in the sugar a second time.
Here’s what they look like with their two coats of sugar. Pretty nice, huh?
And here’s what they look like if you add white chocolate chips right to the cookie dough. Not as attractive, but tasty.
And finally, here’s what they look like spread with melted white chocolate. If you’re a white chocolate fan, this is probably the way to go. The smooth, sweet chocolate plays very nicely with the assertively tangy lime in a very pretty way.
Read, review, and rate (please!) our recipe for Key Lime Cookies.
P.S. Thanks to Jennifer, one of our readers, for suggesting putting Key lime and white chocolate together in a cookie. Here they are, Jennifer—enjoy!
Buy vs. Bake
Buy: Key Lime white chocolate chip cookies, various brands, 43¢ to 53¢/ounce
Bake at home: Key Lime cookies with white chocolate icing, 15¢/ounce
August 24th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Sounds great! I like lime, but not many others in my family, so I’ll probably use the lemon powder and oil as we all LOVE lemon!
Absolutely - I should have mentioned that’s an easy substitute. Thanks, Mike! - PJH
August 25th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Those variations all sound wonderful! I like the idea of Ben and Jerry’s coming up with a version of this too!! Maybe someone from there reads this blog and will start working on a it.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
WOW!!! Give me citrus anytime and I’m in heaven! I also envision a version of raspberry with chocolate icing. I think I’ll have to set aside a cookie day and make all different flavors.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
The recipe says “drop by teaspoons”; The blog says “drop by tablespoons.” Which did you intend? This discrepancy would affect not only size, of course, but also baking time and texture.
Hi Shirley,
Good catch! The scoop used in the photos is a teaspoon scoop, so it should be teaspoons. I’ll let the web team know, eagle eyes!
MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline
All set - thanks, Shirley. - PJH
August 25th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Please let me know where I can get your lime powder and lime oil. Your cookies sound terrific. I’d like to try them.
Hi Diane - Just go to the blog, and click on the links under the picture of the lime powder and lime oil. It’ll take you right to their pages on our site, where you can order them. Enjoy! - PJH
August 25th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Oh-h-h, yum-m-m-m!!! These cookies I’ve just GOTTA try, seeing as how I live in FL. My husband and I love all things lime….and lemon, and mango - well, you get the idea!!! Will be printing off this recipe and adding it to my collection. Now, if only I could only convince Yoplait to carry Key Lime Pie yogurt in Florida, I’d be a most happy camper!!
August 26th, 2008 at 8:28 am
These look amazing! I love lime and adding white chocolate makes my mouth water! Being a Mainer, I would love to know where to find your Maine bisquit recipe… my grandfather was a champion bisquit maker but I have not been able to find his recipe…
Wendy, my favorite Maine biscuit recipe is on the back of the Maine Bakewell Cream can. A very similar and excellent one is our Guaranteed Biscuits online. Enjoy! - PJH
August 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Oh…..yum! I’m speechless. And that doesn’t happen often!
August 26th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
These look absolutely wonderful, but it’s a dirty trick to feature these when the lime oil is unavailable on your website. When do you suppose we’ll be able to get it?
Lynn, sorry - we’re a victim of our own success here. Had a huge spike in orders for the lime oil and powder. The oil is supposedly due back in stock Thursday, so hang tight… - PJH
August 26th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Im so excited to try these I can stand it. I just started using a similar oil and it has been life-altering. Thanks.
August 26th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Yummmm…
I just made them with the lemon powder and lemon oil and they came out great! I also used the non-melting powdered sugar (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp?id=1307) and they look great. My only problem is mine didn’t seem to hold their shape like yours did. They came out about 1/4″ or less in height.
Any suggestions?
Did you use KA unbleached all-purpose flour? Did you weigh the confectioner’s sugar(too much sugar promotes cookie spread)? Did you use real butter? These are all considerations. Also, mine weren’t very tall either, as you can see in the blog - maybe 3/8″? - Youmight be thinking they shuld be taller than they really are… - PJH
August 26th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Okay…I have an unrelated question…
What IS Bakewell Cream? Would I use it instead of my other baking powder? Anything to make a baking power biscuit appealing to my biscuit-eschewing husband would be great! I love ‘em, he could live without them…
It’s basically their “secret” type of cream of tartar… Try our Guaranteed Biscuit recipe online first, see what you think. It’s easy, since there’s no fooling around with cutting in butter, etc. Just pour in the heavy cream… yum! Cream biscuits. - PJH
August 26th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Okay…so they turned out BEAUTIFULLY! Thanks, PJ!
However, it started a debate at the dinner table between my husband and myself: he looked at me, said “I really like these, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t make them, but WHY do people INSIST on serving biscuits or rolls with dinner? I mean, they don’t really TASTE like anything.”
So I’m thoroughly convinced of one thing now: my husband has no tastebuds left thanks to all of the super spicy buffalo chicken wings he’s eaten.
Wouldn’t it be fun, though, PJ, Susan, and the other kind folks who write this blog, to think up a ‘menu’ of sorts of different breads/rolls/biscuits/muffins, etc to serve with dinner during the fall and winter? I’m HUGE on serving a bread of some sort - it fills you up, and when it is cold, there is NOTHING better than a fresh loaf of warm bread, and an oven warming the home in Wisconsin.
Just an idea…I’m off to read my KAF Whole Grains cookbook. I’ve recently discovered grinding my own flax seed and using it to bake!
August 26th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
“Did you use KA unbleached all-purpose flour? Did you weigh the confectioner’s sugar(too much sugar promotes cookie spread)? Did you use real butter? These are all considerations. Also, mine weren’t very tall either, as you can see in the blog - maybe 3/8″? - Youmight be thinking they shuld be taller than they really are… - PJH”
Is there any other kind of flour? Well, okay, I didn’t strictly use that one, I used the Organic version in the blue wrapper, but yes, by weight not by volume. I’m thinking maybe chilling them in the fridge for 20-30 min before baking might help. Or, double batching them and using 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening… What do you think?
Chilling would help, yes. Organic is fine. Double batch won’t make any difference - other than yielding you twice the number of delicious cookies! - PJH
August 27th, 2008 at 8:16 am
“Chilling would help, yes. Organic is fine. Double batch won’t make any difference - other than yielding you twice the number of delicious cookies! - PJH”
I was thinking that the shortening would not have as much of a spread as butter and may hold the height. Tho I kind of like the think lite cookie as is…
Hi Mike,
Yes, shortening melts at a higher temperature than butter, so the spread is usually less.
MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline
August 27th, 2008 at 9:30 am
What about using whole grains? I’m trying to make it a point to use whole wheat pretty much exclusively, even with cookies (and yes I do have your whole grains cookbook, but I haven’t checked it for this type of recipe; after all, I am at work). But how would it affect this recipe?
If you use white whole wheat, the substitution should be pretty seamless. Obviously they’ll have some whole wheat taste, and they might be a tad denser/drier. But go for it. Cookies are one of the easiest places to substitute whole wheat. - PJH
August 30th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I am trying to eliminate trans fats from my baking but have a lot of recipes that call for vegetable shortening or margarine. I know that substituting butter will affect the texture but does anyone have some ideas on how to do this successfully? Thanks!
Depends on your definition of successful, Linnea. Substituting butter will generally make cookies a bit less crisp (if you’re looking for crisp), and piecrust a bit less flaky/more crumbly. In other applications (muffins, quickbreads, etc.) the change is usually indistinguishable. Butter also improves flavor wherever you go. You can also use shortening with most of its trans fat eliminated, if you’re willing to go that route - e.g., the new Crisco. - PJH
August 31st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Visited “Mecca” last Monday and was dismayed to find that the lime and lemon powders were unavailable at your store. There was none to be had in the warehouse either as three of your wonderful sales consultants looked around the store and made phone calls to the warehouse for me. What’s a gal to do? I have the lime oil but no powder. Is there a substitute you can suggest?
So sorry, Sandra - that recipe temporarily put lime powder and lime oil on back order! I’ve emailed the store manager to make sure it’s back in stock - was supposed to be as of last Thursday… There’s no substitution that I know of. But as I said, it was a temporary outage. - PJH
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Woo hoo! I can hardly wait to make these! Thanks PJ! Quick question, how much white chocolate should I put in the mix? 1/2 cup? More?
Jennifer, says in the “tips” in the recipe - I added 1 cup. I wouldn’t go more than that, but you can go less, of course… Enjoy! PJH
September 10th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I just finally got around to baking these this afternoon and all I have to say to you, PJ, is amazing! I’m busy working my way through the most recent posts on the website and have to tell you that the Baker’s Banter is the first thing I check when I go online hoping there is something new to read and bake. Keep up the good work!