Blimey Limey Cutout Cookies
For me, every holiday — big or small — is an opportunity to theme bake. Toying with ideas for St. Patrick’s Day, I ran through the list of Irish inspired flavors like Guinness-spiked chocolate, whiskey and coffee, even Baileys, but decided something more kid-friendly felt in order. (Don’t worry, the other ideas have been logged for future recipes.) Thinking green, I considered going with the Shamrock Shake inspiration of mint, but had my fill of that at Christmas.
So, lime, maybe? Yes. Key lime to be exact.
I tried something a little different with this one, and first rubbed the zest into the sugar. The smell alone made it worth the extra effort. A bit of extract in the dough, and both extract and the fresh lime juice in the icing, seemed like it would give the right amount of zip. What I hadn’t anticipated was what the butter and vanilla would do to the flavor. These cookies taste like key lime pie!
Enjoy! Oh, and Erin go Bragh!
PS…
The other creative twist on this one is that the leprechaun is actually a skull cookie cutter upside-down!
These are some of the items I find especially helpful for this bake. (These are affiliate links.)
King Arthur All-Purpose Flour
Cook’s Pure Lime Extract
Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract
Unbleached Parchment Sheets from SMARTAKE
Blimey Limey Cutout Cookies
makes about 16 cookies (4” cookies rolled 1/4” thick)
INGREDIENTS
3 cups good all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
Zest of 1 key lime (reserve juice for icing)
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla
1 teaspoon lime extract
Royal Icing for decorating
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium-large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly and set aside.
In a small bowl, rub the lime zest into the sugar to release the oils.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and lightened, add the sugar and cream until fluffy.
Add the egg and extracts and mix until well incorporated.
Add the flour mixture and mix on low/medium-low until incorporated, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed.
Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thick on a sheet of parchment paper. Slide the parchment onto a cookie sheet. Use a cookie cutter to cut desired shape(s) close together. Remove the bits of dough from between the shapes, and add it to the remaining dough. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the cut-out shapes. Repeat with remaining dough.
Stack the cookie sheets carefully and freeze for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Remove one cookie sheet at a time from the freezer, remove the top layer of parchment and space the frozen cookies about 2 inches apart. (If all the cookies won’t fit, put the extras back into the freezer for the next batch.)
Bake for 11-12 minutes, until the cookies look just done and a little golden around the edges.
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat steps 8-10 until all cookies have been baked.
Let cookies cool for at least 1 hour or overnight before decorating.
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