Crock of Pickles
My Jodiann is mixing, baking, freezing and pickling today. She knows its Challenge Tuesday and believe it…she is challenged!~ Yesterday’s Jury Duty was abruptly cancelled shortly after the roll call was taken at the courthouse, so no great stories to tell, except her favorite Bailiff, Cliff was looking mighty spry. So, she came home and got the kitchen bug again, it just slopped over to today! LOL!
Here is a great recipe to hold you over till tomorrow…
Lime Meltaways
Original Recipe by M. Stewart. Below recipe with some changes by Jodiann Cates
Makes about 6 dozen, double the recipe if you are freezing the dough.
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2/3 granulated sugar
- Grated zest of 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.
- Between two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour.
STOP! Remove from freezer, wrap in plastic wrap, yes, right over the parchment paper, place in freezer bag, zip closed, squeezing out all the air. Mark them for Christmas 2009 and put them in the back of the freezer. Phew! Yummy taste of sunshine stored away! When you are ready to bake these cookies around December 17th remove them from the freezer, thaw for about an hour. When you can press your fingerprint into the dough but still feel the frozen roll hard under your finger then its ready to roll in sugar. Roll the logs in 2/3 cup granulated sugar, really press hard now get a good coating on there. Re-wrap in clean plastic wrap. Return to freezer for 1 hour.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Remove wrapping from logs; slice dough into 1/8-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.
- Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, 8 to 10 minutes. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
These are some of the easiest and the most welcome Christmas Cookies. Refreshing change next to all the chocolate and strong spice flavors at Christmas-time.
Happy Tuesday!
Harvey Dane
Edited: July 28th, 2009