Coconut Lime Chewy Sugar Cookies

Our cool SoCal summer is fading away fast and the yucky August heat waves are upon us...oh how I dread hot and sticky summer days. It's been a strange summer of coolness but it finally hit 88 degrees today. (It will get hotter when September rolls around.) I try and not use the oven when the weather permits but I really wanted to use the limes that I keep in abundance in my kitchen. These cookies had tropical summer written all over them with the combination of coconut and lime so it was a small sacrifice to use my oven.

Whenever you add the zest of a citrus, it always intensifies the recipe to another foodie dimension. The oils in the peel give the sweet fragrant flavor. I love the idea of adding citrus to the sugar cookie and maybe orange, lemon and grapefruit would be an interesting twist, too. These are great cookies whenever you want a little taste of tropical summer. All I am missing is a 'rum cocktail' with a little umbrella for my perfect taste of a tropical summer. Hmmmm.....

Coconut Lime Chewy Sugar Cookies

Seen from Two Peas and Their Pod and she adapted it from Rock Recipes

Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of one large lime

3 tablespoon lime juice

½ cup toasted coconut

½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

1 tablespoon colored sanding sugar

 

Preparation:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper.

 

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

 

Using a KA mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Scrape down any creamed butter mixture if not mixed.

 

Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest.

Gradually add in the dry ingredients and toasted coconut.

In a small bowl, add the ½ cup sugar with the colored sanding sugar. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of sugar cookie dough into balls using a small ice cream scooper and roll the dough in the sugar bowl until completely coated. Place on cookie sheets about 1 ½ inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Enjoy!

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Review: Yum, I absolutely love the simplicity of sugar cookies but with the addition of coconut and lime - it definitely kicks it up a notch. The sugar cookie dough is soft and velvety to touch, so when you are not scooping out teaspoonfuls of cookie dough - keep your dough in the fridge. Overall, the cookies were light, refreshing and delicious!