Lime Sandwich Cookies with Coconut Cream Frosting
I don’t know about you, but I’m already wishing for warmer weather. This frigid winter has left us pining for the warm blue waters of the Caribbean.
A few weeks ago, when I happened across a lime cookie recipe at The Parsley Thief, I immediately thought of our trip to St. John last summer. Lime and coconut were pretty much on every menu on the island. So for a respite from the heavy winter foods, I decided to make a batch of these lime meltaways and add a little twist with some coconut.
Fresh lime zest and juice is a favorite ingredient for me when baking.
The original recipe called for coating the cookies after they cooled with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar is delightful, but I’ve had more than one coughing/choking fit when eating goodies coated with the sweet stuff. For some reason I can’t manage to breathe and chew at the same time. Plus I wanted to combine the lime with the coconut, so instead of the powdered sugar, I decided to try to make a sandwich cookie with coconut icing.
These lime meltaways, adapted from Martha Stewart: Cookies, are a light shortbread cookie, and as named, melt in your mouth. They’d be perfect for a ladies tea, shower or luncheon. Very delicate and not too sweet, so pairing them with coconut icing didn’t add too much. It was a nice balance.
Since I was making a sandwich cookies out of them, I made the cookies a tad bit thinner than in the original recipe. They really are very delicate so be careful when sandwiching them together.
I made two attempts at the icing. The first batch was made with sweetened shredded coconut. I grated it a little in my mini food processor (y’all, I use this one almost as much as my full size food processor) for a finer texture. Even though it wasn’t fine enough to fit through an icing tip, it was tasty, with a mild coconut flavor. It had to be spread on instead of piped which was totally fine.
For the second batch of icing I used cream of coconut in order to pipe it on the cookies. Both icings tasted similar – not too coconut-y. Whatever one you choose would just depend on how you want to apply the icing. Both icing recipes are below. Everyone seems to have their own preference when it comes to icing so adjust the ingredients to your liking but note that you want the icing to harden slightly so the cookies will stick together.
Lime Sandwich Cookies with Coconut Cream Frosting
(discovered at The Parsley Thief; adapted from Martha Stewart: Cookies)
Makes approximately 80- 1 1/4″ sandwich cookies
Cookie Ingredients:
- 3 3/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter; room temperature
- 2/3 confectioners’ sugar
- Zest of 4 limes (about 2 1/2 tablespoons)
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment beat together the butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy; about 4 minutes.
- Beat in lime zest, juice and vanilla until combined; remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times.
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, salt) in small batches and mix until just blended.
- Divide the dough into quarters.
- Roll each quarter of dough into a 1 1/4″ diameter log and wrap in parchment paper.
- Chill dough for about an hour or until firm. Or freeze dough up to 2 months.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F.
- Remove dough from the parchment paper and slice into 1/8″-1/4″ rounds.
- Place cookie rounds on parchment lined baking sheet about 1″ apart.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
- Place on cooling rack; let cool.
Coconut Cream Frosting (2 versions)
Makes enough for 80 sandwich cookies and then some.
Version 1 Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter; room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2-3/4 cup sweetened grated coconut
- 3-4 tablespoons milk
Version 2 Ingredients*:
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup cream of coconut
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- For both icing versions mix ingredients together until smooth.
- On the side that was face down during baking, apply icing then gently place another cookie on top of the icing/filling and lightly press to form sandwiches.
* Icing Version 2 can be put in an icing bag fitted with a large opening tip for icing cookies.
Hope you enjoy! Happy baking!
