Lime Sugar Cookies

I was flipping through the cookie recipes from Gourmet Magazine to prepare my next post for gourmet unbound when I came upon these lime cookies. The recipe sounded really good and it received many positive reviews, but I was too impatient to wait til the end of the week to make them!
I halved the recipe and changed it a little. I never made the "lime sugar" they referred to. I just threw in lime zest with the butter and sugar mixture. Then after forming the dough into balls, I rolled them in sugar and lime zest.
They came out nice and crunchy on the edges and chewy in the middle. A definitely delicious cookie! And the lime flavor really comes through!
If you want a smaller cookie, just make your balls smaller than I made mine. I made the balls about 1 1/2" in size. and my cookies came out about 3 1/2" in diameter.

Zest some lime zest and set aside for a minute.
Beat the butter and sugar and then throw in the lime zest.

Beat in the egg and vanilla, then add the flour and mix til it's all combined.

The original recipe says to form into a log but I never have any luck with forming cookie doughs into logs! So I just formed them into balls and rolled the balls in sugar and more lime zest.

Then pop into the fridge for at least 2 hours to get them to firm up.

Sprinkle a cookie sheet with some sugar and place the balls onto the sheet.

Gently press each ball to about 3/8" thickness.

They do spread out quite a bit..but in a good way!

Lime Sugar Cookies ( adapted from Gourmet Magazine July 2000)

Makes about 2 dozen, dpending on size

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp. lime zest

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cup AP flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Approx. 1/3 cup sugar mixed with 1 tbsp. lime zest (for rolling balls)

1. Beat butter, shortening, sugar and lime zest in mixer til light and fluffy.

2. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and on low speed, add to the egg mixture til just combined.

4. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and place into the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 375 and sprinkle sugar onto your baking sheet.

6. Once the dough has chilled and become firmer, shape into small balls, about 1" in size and roll in the sugar/lime zest mixture. ( If the dough becomes too soft, pop into the freezer for a few minutes).

7. Place the balls on the baking sheet, spacing 3" apart ( they will spread) and gently press each one with the bottom of a glass to about 3/8" thickness.

8. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. The edges should be slightly golden.

9. Cool 30 seconds to barely 1 minute only on sheet then loosen each cookie carefully ( if you don't loosen the cookies in time, they will stick and possibly break so be sure you do this step as soon as they are managable to loosen), and continue to cool on sheet 5 minute. Then transfer to wire rack.