These key lime shortbread cookies are a good balance of sweet, buttery, and zesty. My shortbread cookie base really turned out to be pretty versatile!
This is one of the more recent flavors that I tried with my shortbread cookie base recipe. My boss invited a few of us over to his place in Vallejo a few days ago, and he requested for key lime-flavored baked goods. I wanted to see how much liquid my shortbread cookie base can handle for flavoring, and it turned out pretty well! In order to double up on the key lime-ness, I decided to add some key lime drizzle as well.
Tools you’ll need
Ingredients
Cookie dough
- 255 g cold salted butter*, cut into little cubes
- 95 g white sugar
- 60 g brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp key lime juice
- zest from two key limes
- 320 g all-purpose flour
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Key lime drizzle
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp key lime juice
- zest from two key limes
Instructions
- Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-high until light and floofy (at least 5 minutes).
- Add the key lime juice and zest and beat some more until it looks mixed enough.
- Scrape the side of the mixing bowl as needed. Put the mixer on low and slowly add the flour. Mix just until the flour is fully incorporated.
- Take the dough out and form into a log shape on top of a plastic wrap. Diameter should be about 2 - 2.5 inches.**
- Wrap it tight in the plastic! Put in the fridge to chill for 2 hours. (Yes, yes, I know.)
- About 10 minutes before the 2 hours are up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Take your dough out and slice into about 1/2-inch thick discs. If you have some that fall apart, just squish it back together.
- Place them on top of a parchment-lined baking sheet, about an inch apart. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- While the cookies are baking, mix the powdered sugar, key lime juice and zest until icing forms. If it's too thick and not drizzly enough, feel free to add a bit more juice until the desired consistency. Be careful with this though, you don't want to be too liquidy.
- Cool the cookies for at least 20 minutes before adding the drizzle.
Notes
*If you don't have salted butter on hand, you can use unsalted butter and just add 1/2 tsp of salt.
**If you want to be a little extra, or if you're a little OCD (like me) and want perfectly round discs that are all the same size, try rolling them out instead of using the log method. When you take your dough from the mixing bowl, instead of shaping it into a log, you can place it between two parchment papers and roll it until it's about 1/2-inch thick all throughout before chilling. Then once chilled, take a round cookie cutter (or a cup or glass or anything with a round opening about 2-2.5 inches in diameter) and cut out your discs that way.
// ON THE SCENE
- Bottom backdrop: Replica Surfaces — Terra Cotta
- Props: key limes, zest