Lime Jewels

I call these little delicious beauties Lime Jewels because they are covered with crunchy crystals of sugar that sparkle when they catch the light.  I love the tang in these cookies and they’re just light and delicious.  I have made these cookies before with lemons and oranges but these lime ones are my favorites.

Maisie sort of helped in making the cookies…as she multi-tasked and ate some Veggie Stix.

Maisie was much more interested in helping to eat the cookies.

Getting silly and putting on the charm asking for the entire plateful of cookies.

Lime Jewels

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup crystal sugar, for rolling the cookies before baking

In a medium bowl mix together the flour and baking powder.  In a mixer, blend the butter and sugar mix until light and creamy. Add the vanilla, egg, lime zest, and lime juice.  Mix to combine. Add the flour mixture and blend slowly until fully incorporated.  Cover the batter and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Using a small cookie scoop, make balls of the dough and drop them into the crystal sugar and roll to coat.  Place the sugared balls onto a Silpat  or parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges just begin to turn brown.  Remove to a cooling rack.  Fresh out of the oven the cookies have a crunchy edge and exterior with a gooey center and once cooled they keep the crunchy edge but the inside is lovely and just a bit chewy.  These cookies freeze wonderfully and once defrosted to room temp they keep their crunchy edges and chewy center but if you like really crunchy, eat them straight from the freezer…delicious either way.

Enjoy!!