Lime Kisses

What is it with summer and citrus?  I know that citrus fruits aren’t typically in season in the summer, but summer seems to be when I want lemon, orange, and lime flavored things – from sorbet to beverages to bars, etc. 

I found this recipe on Our Best Bites for “Orange-Kissed Cookies”, and although I love a good orange flavored dessert, I’m cuckoo for lime.  I took everything orange-related in this recipe and made it limey (and doubled the recipe…with 5 kids you kind of have to double every recipe).  I will admit I haven’t actually tried the original recipe.  I’d like to, but I may never actually get around to it.

As an aside, my kids had their little friend from across the street over yesterday and since I had a bazillion of these I sent a plateful home with her.  Today her dad came by and told me something to the effect of she’s only allowed to play over here if I promise to send her home with more cookies (which he totally thought were too good to be homemade). 

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites, who adapted it from AllRecipes.com

Cookie –  

2 cups white sugar

1 cup margarine
2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

6 oz (½ of a 12 oz can) limeade concentrate

1 tbsp lime zest (zest of 2 limes)

Frosting –

Zest of 1 lime

6 oz (½ of a 12 oz can) limeade concentrate

1 cup softened butter (I use salted.  If you don’t, add ½ - 1 tsp salt)

½ tsp vanilla extract

6 cups (maybe a cup shy of 2 lbs) powdered sugar

Green food coloring

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  Set aside.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the sugar and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add the sour cream and eggs and mix until everything is well incorporated.  Add the vanilla, limeade concentrate, and lime zest and mix again.  Add the flour mixture half at a time and mix until just combined.  Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated and if needed, mix again until combined.

Your dough will be looser than a normal cookie dough.  Using a cookie scoop (or a tablespoon), drop rounded scoops onto a cookie sheet, spacing them appropriately (my cookie scoop fits about ¼ cup capacity, so I space them so I fit 12 to a sheet).  Bake 9-11 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn golden and the cookies are set.  Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 min then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Sorry.  Just had to throw that in there because he's cute.

While your cookies are cooling, combine the wet ingredients for the frosting into your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add 4 cups of powdered sugar and combine.  Keep adding flour ½ cup at a time until a desired consistency is reached.  Add green food coloring until you reach the color you want.  After cookies have cooled, pipe or frost your cookies.  My kids decorated the ones shown with green frosting and sprinkles.

This recipe yields 50-75 cookies, depending on the size.  If you give them away, people will like you.

Update:  my friend Roxanne is having a party for her baby girl, and we were talking about strawberry flavored desserts.  I was in Las Vegas last weekend and while there was helping my mom make 1200 cookies for this seminar thingy she's in charge of.  When I went to the store to get ingredients to make these cookies, I saw next to the frozen limeade concentrate STRAWBERRY DAQUIRI CONCENTRATE! I had a lightbulb moment and decided to transform these little lovelies into strawberry daquiri kisses and pina colada kisses.  So I did. 

What you do is sub the limeade concentrate for either pina colada or strawberry daquiri concentrate.  These concentrates come in 10 oz cans rather than 12 oz cans.  With the strawberry, add 6 oz to the cookie and only 4 oz to the frosting; otherwise you will have an overpowering strawberry frosting.  With the pina colada, split the concentrate equally (5 oz in the cookie and 5 oz in the frosting).  I also topped the pina colada with toasted coconut.  For the toasted coconut, put 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded or flaked coconut on a foil lined baking sheet into a 350 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes.  Cool the coconut completely before topping the cookies.  You'll want to top the cookies when the frosting is still fresh in order for the coconut to stick.