What I’m Reading
Aug
6
Remember the good old days, when I didn’t bother to post much during the summer? I miss those sweet weeks filled with nothing but books and sun, especially when I’m sitting in Chris’s stuffy office banging on my keyboard.
But!
This recipe makes my blogging blood, sweat, and tears worth it.
Chris’s favorite dessert of all time is key lime pie and I have been on a seemingly endless quest to find a recipe that is not key lime pie, but that he still loves. Preferably something that does not involve me making a pie crust, as I have recently realized that I have an aversion to pie crusts. Or really I should say, I have an aversion to anything that involves close measurements, timing, and the possibility of it not turning out the way I want it to the very first time I attempt it. Cookies it is!
I started by dumping all the wet ingredients, including the room temperature butter, into my mixer, plus 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar. Since I couldn’t find key limes anywhere (or at least, I couldn’t find them anywhere in the one store I bothered to look) I bought key lime juice. It has all the same bitterness, minus the cuteness of miniature limes (and thus also minus the zest; sorry I half-assed that part but Whole Foods claimed they only get key limes in the winter and the gentleman in produce looked so sad that he had disappoint my key lime dreams that I felt uncomfortable for him and escaped to the baking aisle before he could offer to grow me some on his back porch).
Where was I? Oh yes. In another bowl I whisked together the flour, cornstarch, and salt, and then slowly added it to the wet ingredients already in my mixer. Once they were all mixed together I took half the dough and dumped it onto some parchment paper and stared at it, perplexed, for a minute. How does one roll dough into a log? Eventually I just sort of rolled it around the counter until it looked like this:
I made them about an inch and half around, I’d wager. Then I threw the rolls in the fridge and waited until after dinner. Once I brought them out I decided to only use one of the rolls since I cut off what seemed like a bajillion million cookies. The other roll is currently residing in my freezer for future use.
Throw those oddly-shaped, unevenly sliced cookies in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and voila!
Slightly burned cookies. Fifteen minutes, my ass, Martha Stewart! Oh well, I have another whole roll to try again later. For now, I tossed the cookies in a ziploc bag with the remaining 2/3 cups powdered sugar and gently shook them around to coat them. The recipe says to do this when they are still warm, a few minutes out of the oven. I would recommend not doing it directly from the hot pan as I did because the sugar heats up and gets melty and the cookies stick together. Then you cry.
But then you eat one and all your worries melt away (get it?! Meltaways?!). They are delicious, rich and buttery, even though they are not particularly pretty and they have too much powdered sugar and some are a bit too… crispy. And also the lighting in my kitchen sucks. Sorry about that.
Wait, you want to know Chris’s verdict?
The first one he had was that totally burnt one there on the left. Not so good, but he chewed thoughtfully and chose his words carefully when proclaiming his judgment that the cooking time may have been off. But his second was perfect and he declared them “suitable” as a key lime dessert. I have since caught him furtively grabbing two or three every time he walks past the kitchen. They must have grown on him.
A few notes: next time I will leave them in for 10 minutes, then check on them every minute until they are done. I will also cut them a bit thicker so they’re not so delicate. And I will definitely add the zest because I love the color and also I think it will add some extra tartness to balance out all the sugar and butter.
Was the recipe easy to follow?
Yes, and will be even easier in the future with my adjustments. I do wish it explained better how to roll the cookies out to get a perfect circle but I guess Martha Stewart has advanced beyond such menial tasks as rolling.
Did the dish taste good?
They’re butter and sugar! How could they not taste good?
Would you make it again?
Sure. I have another whole roll in the freezer, and they seem like they’d be great to bring to a party because the recipe makes so many.
Key Lime Meltaways
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen (although I think she adapted it from Martha Stewart).
The logs can also be frozen so you can have key lime cookies handy just any old time, like when your sweet old next door neighbor happens by. But not our old next door neighbor, whom I saw yesterday pushing an old man down her front stairs while he yelled, “I have pictures! I’ll go to the POLICE!”
Yield: 5 dozen
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 4 tiny or 2 large key limes
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (a.k.a. 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. 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.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.
3. 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.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.
5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, just three or four minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Comments
18 Responses to “Whip It Up #5: Key Lime Meltaways”
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I saw those on Smitten Kitchen too!! Glad Chris approved them
Bring that second roll over and we can bake them in my oven?? I will also show you how to make them pretty. Ya I pretty much just want the cookies…..
I’m glad they are “suitable.”
Key lime is the greatest dessert ingredient. It’s a rule.
Okay, I saw this awesome key lime cheesecake square photo over at Better Homes and Gardens while attempting to hunt down another recipe, but you have to register as a user to get that one. So I thought, “Hey, Chris loves the key lime, so what the heck?” The things I do. And then! They asked me for my freaking mailing address! And last name! No way, BHG. No way.
All of this is to say: how about this fake-out key lime pie I saw in Real Simple?
Ooh! I am also a fan of the key lime pie. But not those little key limes. If you do not know that all the sugar and butter is what makes the pie so sweet, you will bite into one and then have your friends laugh hysterically at the face you are making. Not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything. I wonder if I could convince Keem to make these. Hmm.
I was thwarted by a way-off cooking time recently, too. That famouse NY Times “perfect” chocolate chip cookie recipe that was all over the Internet recently? Yeah, 18 to 20 minutes my ass. On the up side, the following batches turned out a lot better.
While I tried your totally made up veggie lasagna recipe last weekend and loved it, I’m not into baking so I’m probably just going to take your word for it on these and buy a key lime dessert someone else has made if the mood strikes me.
The CFO of our company had been bragging for about a year that he made the best key lime pie ever. He promised us that if we were good, he’d bring it in one day. When he finally did, they were terrible! I mean, I love a good tart pie, but just thinking about how tart his pie was now makes my throat close up. Anyway, these cookies look much better, but I think the trauma of the CFO pie has ruined me and key lime forever.
Oh my word, I love those things. Key lime anything really, but those cookies ….
Feel free to send me any that Chris doesn’t want.
I need to quit reading these WIU posts. They make me really, really hungry. Mmmm… key lime.
Oh! I’ll have to make these for my brother-in-law sometime. He’s big into the key lime pie too.
Oh, yum! I am SO going to try this.
The fact that he is furtively stealing them while walking by means that they are most definitely a success!!!
One other question: How will they handle shipping across several states?
HINT!
I’ve made a ton of Martha Stewart cookies over the years with mixed results, but never these ones. I bet my husband would like them- he LOVES shortbread-y anything. If you like peanut butter, try her “Peanut butter Whoopie Pies” recipe. Delicious. And her rum ball recipe is amazing- I didn’t even think I liked rum balls.
Wow. I said “whoopie” and “balls” in the same comment.
Awesome.
Could you e-mail this recipe to me? My father-in-law would love these! They look so good!
clearly these meltaways are stalking me!!! Must try them.
I’ve read multiple recipes during my catch-up involving lime and lemon and it’s safe to say that I’m in full-on citrus craving mode. Think they’ll have key lime meltaways in Egypt?