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Today I thought we’d take a trip back down into the blog’s archives torevisit one of myall-timefavoritecookie recipes.
I actually posted the recipe for these cookies back in my very first year of blogging, and they’ve beengetting progressively buried in our cookie archives ever since. But I still make them every single year around the holidays, and can hardly believetheir buttery, citrusy, sweet goodness each time I do. They are just the best!!!
Even better, they’re super nice and sturdy, which has madethem my go-to recipe for cookie exchanges over the years. I must admit — I have received many a box over the years that has been full of cookiecrumbles, especially when shipped through the mail system. But when packed correctly, I promise that these cookie will hold up well even when being shipped across the country, or carried in a toddler’s wobbly pathdown the street to a neighbor. :) I’ve given them out for years, and they always receive rave reviews.
So, as is my annual tradition, a friend and I actually made a quadruple batch of these this month to get ready for the holiday season. Half of mine were packed up to give out as part of theWorld’s Largest Cookie Exchange that I’m participating in withBetter Homes & Gardens,and half went in the freezer to have on hand for last-minute holiday gatherings and such. (Ok, actually we couldn’t wait and some friendshelped demolish a few dozen of them early while cheering on our Royals during the World Series, which Ihave to think helped contribute to their sweet win, right?! Right.)
So let’s make some more together, and spread the sweet cookie love!
Alright, well first off, I want to give credit where credit is due. I actually received this recipe after begging for it at a bridal shower 6 years ago with my friend, Amy. Her aunt, Bonnie, is a fantastic bakerand always goes all-out making amazing spreads of sweets and bars and cookies for parties. And at this particular shower, the fruity-dessert lover in me was immediately drawn to the cute little handwritten sign that saidcoconut-lime shortbread cookies.
In the middle of the freezing winter in Kansas, these sounded like a taste of no less than tropical paradise.
Buttery shortbread cookies baked with a good hint of lime and toasted coconut…then topped with a sweet lime glaze…how could you go wrong?!
The answer is that you can’t. :)
You absolutely can’t go wrong with these.
And because of that, I highly recommend making a double or triple batch of these if you can. Shortbread cookies are a bit of a time commitment either way, so if you’re going to go to the work, I always vote that you might as well make extras tofreeze or give away. (And a quick note — if you aren’t going to eat them right away, I recommend stirring the lime zest into the glaze as pictured above, instead of sprinkling it on top.)
But if you are going to eat them fairly quickly, I love the look of that bright green zest topping each cookie like confetti. So cute!
As I mentioned above, I packed up a few little boxes of these to give away this year as part of The World’s Largest Cookie Exchange withBetter Homes & Gardens, which you can join too if you’re interested! They have all sorts of great little free printable holiday gift tags an recipe cardsonline,as well as hundreds and hundreds of other cookie recipes that you can browse for inspiration.
So if you’re needing some simple (and inexpensive) homemade gifts to give out this year, I highly recommend getting involved and giving the gift of something homemade from your kitchen. I have some more great DIY homemade projects coming up on the blog this month, too, so stay tuned for more ideas.
These Coconut Lime Shortbread Cookies are perfectly light, sweet, buttery, and full of fresh lime and coconut flavor!
Ingredients
Scale
Coconut Lime Shortbread Cookie Ingredients:
1/2 cup shreddedcoconut, toasted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons limezest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces
Lime Glaze Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon limezest
1 tablespoon lime juice
2–3 tablespoons water
Instructions
To Make The Coconut Lime Shortbread Cookies:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
In a food processor, combine coconut, sugar, lime zest, and the vanilla extract. Pulsea few times until the coconut is finely chopped. Add flour, and pulse until combined. Gradually add in the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture is smooth and combined. (The dough will appear fairly dry.)
Transfer to a very large bowl, and knead dough until smooth. (If the dough is still too dry and crumbly, add in a half teaspoon of water at a time until it clings together.) Shape dough into a ball, then divide in half.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the dough portions toabout 1/4-inch thickness. Using your desired cookie cutters (I used a 1.5-inch round cutter), cut out dough. Place cutouts 1″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Repeat with the remaining dough on a second cookie sheet.
Bake for 15-17 minutes, or just until bottoms start to brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool to room temperature.
Drizzle each cookie with the lime glaze, adding extra lime zest on top if desired.
To Make Lime Glaze:
In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, lime peel, and lime juice until combined. Add in the two or three tablespoons of water, and whisk until it reaches a good consistency for spreading.
Cornstarch provides the shortbread with structure, but its biggest job is keeping the cookies extra soft, tender, and light. I love adding a small amount to chocolate chip cookies too. Optional Coarse Sugar Topping: For an optional sparkly crunch on your shortbread wedges, add a sprinkle of coarse sugar before baking.
Check doneness by looking for an even, light brown colour across the top of the biscuits, with slight darkening at the edges. Begin checking at the tail end of the cooking time. Undercooked shortbread will be doughy and chewy. Slightly overcooked and it will become chalky, brittle and hard.
Shortbread contains no leavening, such as baking powder, baking soda, or eggs.Sugar and butter cookies, on the other hand, generally include one or more of these ingredients. The lack of a leavening agent in shortbread contributes to its signature crumbly texture.
Food Crumbles explains that flour absorbs some of the moisture from the butter during the baking process for shortbread. The starch in the flour swells when heated and keeps the cookie's shape even as the butter melts.
The most common mistakes when making shortbread are over-working the dough, and incorporating too much flour. The less you work the dough, the more crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth your shortbread cookies will be.
Chilling the dough before baking will help the shortbread keep their shape while cooking. In the oven, the dough will spread as the butter in the mixture melts, but baking it from chilled helps reduce this effect. It's most important to do this if you are baking the shortbread in individual biscuits.
Step 3: The Secret to the Absolute Best Shortbread
After shaping the cookies, don't rush to the oven! Instead, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so (overnight is OK, too). A short stay in the fridge will firm up the cookies and solidify the butter. This will help keep them from spreading too much.
Shortbread should always have a tender, melting texture, but be slightly crisp when you bite into it. It should not generally be damp or wet underneath. A classic shortbread recipe will also only have flour, butter and sugar as the ingredients (in a 3:2:1 ratio) and not egg, which could lead to excess moisture.
If you don't have salted butter, unsalted butter will also work, simply add about ¼ teaspoon of salt to the cookie dough. The reason the salt is needed is because salt brings out the flavor in the cookies, without it, your cookies will taste bland.
Traditional Scottish shortbread is a simple recipe made with sugar, butter, flour, and salt. Other shortbread styles will include leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda, which makes them crisp instead of crumbly like traditional Scottish shortbread.
This buttery delight uses baking powder to help it rise, giving it a fluffy consistency. Shortcakes are often split and topped with strawberries and cream. Shortbread is similar to shortcake but doesn't include baking powder. Lots of rich butter gives shortbread a high fat content, resulting in a fine, crumbly texture.
A good way to check to see if the shortbread is baked is to see if they are set - they will be slightly firm around the outside, and may be just beginning to turn golden around the edges. You want to keep them nice and pale so make sure your oven is running at the temperature it says that it is.
Butter is an emulsifier and it makes cookies tender. It also adds in the crispy-around-the-edges element. Adding too much butter can cause the cookies to be flat and greasy. Adding too little butter can cause the cookies to be tough and crumbly.
Fine Cooking explains that the butter should be at refrigerator temperature. While many cookie recipes call for softened butter or at room temperature, if your butter isn't cold when making shortbread, it's likely to turn out greasy or be difficult to roll out.
If you don't have cornstarch on hand, there are a few alternative steps you can take to produce the cookie of your dreams. Go heavy on brown sugar. It has more moisture than its granulated counterpart, which means the cookie comes out less crispy. Unsurprisingly, more liquid retention guarantees a softer bite.
Cornstarch does kind of incredible things to cookies. I mean not only does it give them soft centers, prevents them from spreading, and makes them somewhat thick (in a good way), but it also contributes to the chewiness factor, which, in my opinion, is the most important cookie attribute.
Rice flour is particularly great in a shortbread and other cookies as it makes for a super delicate dough. Potato starch is another useful substitution for cake batters. Like previous substitutions, plan to make a 1:1 swap.
Try using a different type of flour, or sifting your flour before you add it to the wet ingredients. If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, it might not have enough fat. This is a common problem with recipes that use all-purpose flour. To fix this, you can add more fat to the dough.
Introduction: My name is Msgr. Refugio Daniel, I am a fine, precious, encouraging, calm, glamorous, vivacious, friendly person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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