Coconut Lime Sandwich Cookies

I think all this hot weather has inticed me to look for more refreshing cooling recipes and the combo of coconut and lime just sounded so good.
The recipe for the coconut part of this sandwich cookie comes from an older issue of Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine. She actually pairs the cookie with passion fruit curd but, being fresh out of passion fruit ( ha! ), I made instead a lime filling and it worked out great!

I made two changes to Martha's recipe which was to add a little coconut extract to up the coconut flavor and the other was to use sweetened coconut because this was what I had. And I made my cookies bigger than the original recipe ( 2" in size) and I only got 2 dozen total cookies. Martha's says it will make 3 dozen sandwiches! I take that to mean 6 dozen cookies made into 3 dozen sandwich cookies. I really don't know if you can actually get that many..but maybe. Her cutters were 1 1/4" in size.


Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Put the butter and granulated sugar into a mixer bowl and beat til pale and fluffy.
Mix in the egg and vanilla.
Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture.


Stir in the coconut.
Then shape the dough into 2 discs and wrap each in plastic.
Place into the fridge til cold, about 30 minutes.
Note: I actually took the discs out of the fridge after 30 minutes and rolled out to 1/4" thickness between 2 sheets of plastic, then I popped them into the freezer for about 20 minutes to harden, then I cut out the shapes. Then I popped them back into the freezer for another few minutes to firm up, then baked them.


Once they baked, they lost their pretty flower shape so I would suggest just using a round cookie cutter.

Make the filling by beating all the ingredients together in a small bowl, then place about a tablespoonful onto one cookie and top with another to make the sandwich.

Store the cookies in the fridge since the filling will soften in the warm room temperatures.

Coconut Lime Sandwich Cookies ( adapted from Martha Stewart)

Makes 12 or more sandwich cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter. I used 2" cutters and the original recipe calls for using 1 1/4" cutters.

Cookies:

1/2 cup AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. coconut extraxt ( optional but I think it's needed)

3 1/2 ozs. unsweetened flake coconut ( about 1 1/2 cups) ( I used sweetened)

Confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Filling:

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp. butter, softened

2 tsp. lime zest

1 tbsp. lime juice

Cookies:

1. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Put butter and granulated sugar into a mixer bowl and beat in medium high speed til pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3. Mix in the egg and vanilla.

4. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in the flour mixture.

5. Stir in the coconut.

6. Shape dough into 2 discs and wrap each in plastic. Refridgerate til cold, about 30 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 375 and get a parchment lined baking sheet ready.

8. Take the discs out of the fridge and roll each out to 1/4" thickness, then pop them into the freezer for about 20 minutes. Then take them out of the freezer and cut out your shapes and pop them back into the freezer for another few minutes to firm up.

9. Place them onto your parchment lined baking sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes, or til the edges are golden. ( Mine took the full 10 minutes.).

10. Cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

11. Fill cookies when cooled. Dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.

Filling:

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and place about one tablespoonful onto one cookie and top with another.

Store cookies in the fridge in an airtight container.