Zesty cookies with a light crunch and a soft finish: you'll love these delicious Little Lime Cookies With Powdered Sugar.
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Looking for a cute cookie that's crisp, sweet, and melty all at the same time? Well, here it is!
Little Lime Cookies With Powdered Sugar are made with my Simple Butter Cookie dough. The texture is crumbly and soft, and the cookies are full of bright flavor from lime.
These zesty lime cookies are fun to make and hard to stop eating! When you want a refreshing dessert to serve, these cookies really hit the spot.
Reader Review
"I am so glad that I was diligent with Google and finally found your recipe, thank you! These cookies are delicious! From a fellow New Englander!"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What's the difference between limes and Key limes?
The limes found in grocery stores are typically Persian limes, with thick, dark green rinds. They're bred to have few or no seeds, and are very tart.
Key limes are smaller than Persian limes, with thinner skins that have a more yellow-green hue. They also have more seeds. Because they're less tart and more aromatic, Key limes are a favorite to use in drinks and desserts.
This recipe calls for ordinary Persian lime juice and zest—use fresh lime juice for the best flavor. If Key limes are available at your store, feel free to use them in these cookies.
Why you'll love these treats
This recipe for lime cookies comes together quickly and they're easy to make—that means it's a fun project to do with your kids, to make for Christmas cookies, or to have in the house for an after-school snack.
They're full of flavor from fresh lime juice and zest. Lime tea cookies are a tasty treat, sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet.
Because the lime butter cookies keep well for up to five days, you can make them in advance for when you need them: for the holiday table, bake sale, cookie exchange, or family dessert.
🔪 How to make Little Lime Cookies With Powdered Sugar
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter: Use good quality butter for the best-tasting cookies
- Confectioner's Sugar: It's used inside and to coat the outside of these cookies
- Lime Zest and Juice: Pick up some whole limes to get both of these
- Vanilla Extract: Use a quality extract like Nielsen-Massey
- All-Purpose Flour: King Arthur Flour is my go-to brand
- Salt: Just a pinch
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Step 1: Make the dough
Mix together the butter, sugar, lime zest, and extract, then add in the flour to make a soft cookie dough. Chill it for 30 minutes.
Step 2: Make the cookie balls and bake
Scoop and roll one-inch cookie dough balls, then bake them.
Step 3: Roll in sugar
As soon as the cookies come out, roll them in the confectioner's sugar and place them on a cooling rack.
Step 4: Roll in sugar again!
Once the cookies are cool, roll them in a second coating of confectioner's sugar. They're ready to eat and they store well for up to 5 days!
Tips:
- Remember to allow at least 30 minutes for the cookie dough to chill. This helps the cookies keep their shape when baking, and to prevent the butter from melting out of the dough.
Call them meltaways or snowballs or sugar lime cookies... whatever name you give them, I am sure you will love them!
The recipe for Little Lime Cookies With Powdered Sugar is below! And here are a few more cookie recipes you should consider:
💬 How did you like these lime cookies? Leave a comment below!
📖 Recipe
Little Lime Cookies With Powdered Sugar
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Ingredients
For cookie dough:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar
- 2 tablespoons lime zest (about two regular limes worth)
- 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
- ¼ teaspoon salt
To coat cookies:
- 2-3 cups confectioner's sugar
Instructions
Make cookie dough:
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the butter into chunks. Place the butter and the 1 cup of confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the ingredients together on high speed for three minutes.
- Add in the lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla extract to the bowl and mix them in.
- Add in the salt and flour: mix them in on low speed, scraping once or twice, and continue only until the dough just comes together.
- Remove the dough and squeeze it together a few times by hand. Flatten the dough into a disk. Wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Make the cookie balls:
- Place the 2-3 cups of confectioner's sugar in a bowl and hold it aside - you'll use this to coat the cookies when they come out of the oven. Have a cooling rack ready as well.
- Use a teaspoon: scoop a teaspoon of dough and roll it between your hands into a ball about 1 inch in diameter. Place it on the lined cookie sheet. Continue until you fill the baking sheet, leaving about 1½ inches between dough balls.
- Bake the cookies for 18 minutes: they should be lightly browned on the bottom. . Remove the pan from the oven.
- Roll each baked cookie in confectioner's sugar, then place it on a cooling rack.
- Continue making cookie balls, baking them, and coating them in sugar until they're all done.
Coat them in sugar - again:
- Once the cookies are cool (15-20 minutes) roll each one a second time in confectioner's sugar.
- Store the double-coated, cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Makes about 75 Lime Butter Cookie Balls.
Notes
Tip:
- Remember to allow at least 30 minutes for the cookie dough to chill. This helps the cookies keep their shape when baking, and to prevent the butter from melting out of the dough.
Nutrition
Stephanie L
Hello Nancy!
I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to find this recipe! King Arthur Flour used to have a little lime cookie recipe, this was a good 15-20 years ago. It was on the back of the package of lime powder that they no longer sell and subsequently removed the recipe from their website.
I did not have the lime powder package with the recipe anymore. This is almost exactly the same (from what I remember) except their recipe used the lime powder. I can’t tell you how excited I am! I am so glad that I was diligent with Google and finally found your recipe, thank you! These cookies are delicious! From a fellow New Englander!
Nancy Mock
Okay, to say this comment made my day would be the understatement of the year! Stephanie, thank you so much for giving my recipe a try. I'm so happy that these little cookies have the flavor of the King Arthur recipe you used to treasure. It's always frustrating when a company discontinues a product we love; at least with these cookies you'll be able to get that bright, citrus flavor with easy-to-find fresh limes. Have fun making and sharing them! ♥
Haley
Delicious and refreshing! Very yummy!
susan miroslavich
I would like to send these to my granddaughter at college. Do you think these would be a ok during shipping.
Nancy Mock
Hi Susan! Yes, these cookies should do just fine in shipping. Let them cool completely before bagging them up, pressing out the extra air. Add bubble wrap or crumbled newspaper to the box so the cookies will be snug and not shift around. You're a good grandma to send her a college care package. 🙂 I hope she loves the cookies!