Cookie #29 - Florida Key Lime

The one thing I remember from my first and only trip to Key West was the abundance of key lime flavored delights.  Key lime ice cream, cheese cake, martinis, and, of course, pie.  What better way to represent Florida than with a key lime cookie. 
For the key lime cookie, I took my traditional recipe for Russian Tea Cakes and added the key lime flavor.  I thought the light, crumbly texture of the Tea Cakes would be the perfect vehicle for the Key Lime flavor.  I traded out the walnuts for macadamias to keep with the tropical feel.
Unfortunately, in my area of Pennsylvania, there seemed to be a shortage of key limes.  After trips to 4 different grocery stores I came up empty handed.  I had to resort to using regular limes. Hopefully in your area, key limes are a little more abundant.  That's one thing I miss about living in the NYC metro area - the ability to get almost any ingredient you need at almost any time of day. 

Key Lime Cookies

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon fresh squeeze lime juice (preferably from Key Limes)

1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest (again, Key Limes are preferred)

6 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
2 cups flour

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar for decoration.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter, juice and lime zest until smooth.  Combine flour and confectioner's sugar together and add to butter mixture until blended.  Stir in macadamia nuts.

Roll dough into 1" balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms are just golden.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

When cool, roll gently in powdered sugar twice, allowing the cookies to rest between coatings.