LIME SHORTBREAD COOKIES…Stringing them along for Xmas!!

Deeba @ PAB

16 years ago

‘Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold.’

Judith Olney

LIME SHORTBREAD COOKIES

A variation of Orange Shortbread Fingers from the ‘Great Big Cookie Book’…an exciting book with over 200 recipes. A crisp, buttery cookie with a twang of lime! I used lime juice & rind to make this cookie; gave it a nice zesty/citrus flavour-FRESH!! Decided to go a step further later in the day, and sandwiched some with a chocolate ganache. This made it even more interesting, and a bigger hit with the kids. Here’s my version of the recipe which is a very simple one;keeps in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks (incidentally mine lasted 2 days!!)

For zesting the lime, I used something really interesting & essential by my standards…a ‘Microplane Zester Grater‘ (see picture below) that my sister got for me from the US. It’s magical for zesting limes & oranges, & also for Parmesan, coconut etc. For those who haven’t got one, its worth owning it. It is quick, fuss free, effective and ‘oh so convenient’…even for the emergency dash of garlic & ginger!! Quick clean up too. I can see me using a lot of this neat instrument in future!

Ingredients:

Butter – 1/2 cup (room temperature)

Castor Sugar – 5 tbsps
Finely grated rind of 2 limes
Juice of 1 lime
Flour – 1 1/2 cups
Lemon Sugar for sprinkling (or extra castor sugar)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Grease 2 baking sheets.

Beat the butter & sugar till creamy & soft.I do this by hand.

Beat in the lime juice & rind (I do this too by hand & don’t use the mixer at all for this recipe).

Gradually add the flour and gently pull the dough in together to form a soft ball.

Roll out on a lightly floured suface to about 1/2 ” thickness ( for sandwich cookies I roll to a 1/4 ” thickness).

Put on the baking sheet,sprinkle with lemon or castor sugar, & bake for about 20 minutes till golden brown.

Remove to a cookie rack to cool.

Makes about 2-3 dozen.

Crisp & tangy…

Here’s where I thought that adding a dash of chocolate always dresses up things some more…so why not? I sandwiched the flowers in pairs- some with circle cut-outs in the centre, some whole cookies & some little pairs !! They were delicious both ways-with or without the chocolate!