Key Lime Cookies are the recipe that Maria makes every summer afternoon when she wants to create the most completely refreshing and most genuinely tart-and-sweet individual cookie that delivers all the most beloved and most deeply satisfying key lime flavor of the most classic Florida dessert in the most effortlessly soft and most perfectly chewy individual cookie format that requires no pie crust, no meringue, no special equipment, and only ten minutes of the most simple preparation before the most beautiful key lime zest-studded dough goes into perfectly rolled balls onto the prepared sheet and bakes for nine to ten minutes until the most softly set and most beautifully puffy cookies emerge that are then glazed with the most gorgeous and most vibrantly tangy key lime icing for the most completely extraordinary refreshing summer cookie.
She creams the butter with both granulated and brown sugars for the most complex and most deeply rich sweetness, adds the egg and vanilla and key lime zest, combines with the flour, rolls into the most smooth balls, and bakes until just barely set.
Key Lime Cookies are the most easy and deeply refreshing soft chewy summer cookies made with creamed butter granulated and light brown sugar egg vanilla key lime zest flour baking soda and salt baked at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes finished with a key lime glaze of powdered sugar key lime juice milk vanilla and zest. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful cookie recipes and easy summer citrus favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
This Key Lime Cookies recipe is the most completely extraordinary and most genuinely refreshing summer cookie that delivers the most bright and most authentically tart key lime flavor in the most soft and most perfectly chewy individual cookie with a gorgeous key lime glaze that makes every person who tries one immediately declare it the most refreshing and most completely unexpected cookie they have had all summer.
The combination of both granulated and light brown sugar in this key lime cookie recipe is the most important sweetness decision for the most complex and most deeply satisfying cookie flavor. Granulated sugar provides clean sweetness and crisp edges. Brown sugar provides the most beautiful extra moisture and the most subtle caramel-like depth that balances the most bright and sharp key lime zest and produces the most properly soft and most beautifully chewy cookie texture that distinguishes these from any ordinary lime sugar cookie. Our Mojito Sugar Cookies make a beautifully equally lime-bright and equally summer-refreshing companion for a complete and wonderful summer citrus cookie collection.
Ingredients Needed for This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
For the Key Lime Cookies:
- ½ cup (113g) Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup (150g) Granulated Sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) Light Brown Sugar, packed
- 1 large Egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 2 to 3 tsp Fresh Key Lime Zest
- 1¾ cup (219g) All-Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
For the Key Lime Glaze:
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp Fresh Key Lime Juice
- 1 to 2 tbsp Whole Milk
- ¼ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ tsp Fresh Key Lime Zest
- Pinch of Salt (optional)
How to Make This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the room-temperature softened butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed for at least 1 to 2 minutes until the most light and most genuinely fluffy texture forms. Do not skimp on the creaming step as it is the most essential stage for the most properly aerated and most soft cookie texture, cara mia.
Add the room-temperature egg and vanilla extract and beat until mixed in. Add the key lime zest and then add the flour mixture approximately one third at a time, beating on low only until each addition is just mixed in. Do not overmix once the flour begins being added.
Roll the dough into 1½-inch balls and arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for approximately 8 to 10 minutes. The most perfectly soft and most chewy key lime cookie result comes from pulling the cookies out of the oven just before they look completely done — the edges should be barely beginning to set and the cookies may look puffy and slightly underdone in the center. This is completely correct.
Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Once completely cooled, whisk together the key lime glaze ingredients, adjusting the liquid or powdered sugar to the most desired thickness. Allow the glaze to sit for 5 to 10 minutes before dipping or spreading over the cooled cookies as it becomes less runny and most beautiful when slightly rested. Sprinkle additional key lime zest over each glazed cookie for the most beautifully garnished and most professionally finished presentation.
How to Serve This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
Serve at room temperature as the most completely refreshing and most genuinely tart-sweet summer cookie that pairs most beautifully with a cold glass of iced tea, sparkling water, or a creamy glass of cold whole milk for the most completely satisfying summer afternoon treat.
Arrange on a beautiful white plate with a few fresh key lime wedges scattered around the edges for the most completely charming and most authentically key lime-themed presentation. Our Lemon Sandwich Cookies make a beautifully equally bright and equally elegantly individually glazed companion for a complete and wonderful summer citrus cookie collection.
How to Store This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 to 5 days. The cookies are at their most beautifully soft and most properly chewy texture within the first three days. Refrigerate for up to 5 days if preferred. Freeze completely cooled and unglazed cookies for up to 3 months with parchment paper between stacked layers. Freeze unbaked dough balls for up to 3 months and bake from frozen with 2 to 4 additional minutes of baking time.
Tips to Make This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
Roll the dough into smooth hand-rolled balls rather than using a cookie scoop for the most beautifully even and most properly round individual key lime cookie appearance. While a cookie scoop produces consistent dough quantities, hand-rolling produces the most smooth and the most attractively shaped cookie that bakes into the most beautiful round form.
Do not overbake these key lime cookies under any circumstances. The most perfectly soft and most deeply chewy texture that makes these cookies so completely extraordinary requires removing them from the oven when the edges are just barely beginning to set and the centers still look puffy and most underdone. The cookies will continue setting during the cooling period on the hot baking sheet.
Helpful Notes for This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
Key limes are significantly smaller, thinner-skinned, more aromatic, and more intensely tart than conventional Persian limes. Their most distinctive floral and most deeply complex tartness makes the most authentic and most extraordinary key lime cookie. If key limes are unavailable, regular Persian limes substitute directly in the same quantities and produce an equally delicious and equally refreshing result with a slightly less complex citrus character.
Allow the key lime glaze to rest for 5 to 10 minutes after whisking before dipping or spreading the cookies. The brief resting period allows the glaze to thicken to the most perfect and most beautifully even consistency that coats the cookie most smoothly rather than running off immediately.
Variation of This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
Maria made a version folding a quarter cup of white chocolate chips through the dough for the most completely extraordinary and most deeply indulgent key lime white chocolate cookie combination. Teresa tried adding a quarter teaspoon of coconut extract to the glaze alongside the vanilla for the most beautifully tropical and most completely extraordinary key lime coconut cookie.
For a key lime sandwich cookie version, make a simple cream cheese filling of four ounces room-temperature cream cheese beaten with one cup powdered sugar and one tablespoon key lime juice for the most completely extraordinary and most deeply tangy key lime sandwich cookie. Our Lemon Raspberry Cookies make a beautifully equally tart and equally refreshingly fruity companion for a complete and wonderful summer citrus cookie collection.
FAQs About This Key Lime Cookies Recipe
What is the difference between key limes and regular limes?
Key limes are significantly smaller and more round than conventional Persian limes, with much thinner skin and a more intensely tart, more aromatic, and more florally complex flavor profile. Key lime flavor is more distinctive and more deeply layered than regular lime. Regular Persian limes can substitute directly in the same quantity and produce a delicious and equally refreshing cookie, though with a slightly simpler citrus character than the most authentic key lime version.
Why do the cookies look underdone when I take them out?
The most perfectly soft and most properly chewy key lime cookie is intentionally removed from the oven when the edges are just barely beginning to set and the centers look puffy and underdone. These cookies continue baking from the residual heat of the hot baking sheet during the 2 to 3 minute cooling period before transfer. Removing them at this moment produces the most beautifully chewy and most properly soft-centered finished cookie.
Should I dip or spread the key lime glaze?
Both techniques produce beautiful results. Dipping the top of each cookie into the glaze produces the most smoothly and most evenly coated finish. Spreading the glaze with a small offset spatula produces a slightly more textured and more rustic appearance. Allowing the glaze to rest for 5 to 10 minutes after mixing before dipping or spreading produces the most beautifully even and most properly set result from either application method.
Conclusion
These Key Lime Cookies are the most completely refreshing and most deeply tart-sweet summer cookie that makes every afternoon and every warm gathering feel genuinely and completely special through the most vibrant key lime zest and the most gorgeously tangy lime glaze in every single soft and completely irresistible key lime cookie bite. We hope they bring the same deeply joyful key lime summer moment and the same completely refreshed gathering to your kitchen that they have always brought to ours. Make them, share them, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
Print
Key Lime Cookies The Most Easy Soft Chewy Key Lime Zest Glaze Summer Cookie You Will Bake
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most easy soft chewy Key Lime Cookies made by whisking 1 3/4 cup flour baking soda and salt in small bowl beating 1/2 cup room temperature butter with 3/4 cup granulated and 1/4 cup light brown sugar on high 1 to 2 minutes until fluffy adding room temperature egg and vanilla beating in lime zest and flour mixture 1/3 at a time on low until just combined rolling into 1 1/2 inch balls arranging on parchment sheet and baking at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes until edges just barely set cooling on sheet 2 to 3 minutes then rack cooling completely before dipping or spreading key lime glaze of powdered sugar key lime juice milk vanilla zest and optional salt rested 5 to 10 minutes. A completely perfect soft chewy key lime cookie recipe.
Ingredients
1/2 cup 113g Unsalted Butter softened to room temperature
3/4 cup 150g Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup 50g Light Brown Sugar packed
1 large Egg room temperature
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 to 3 tsp Fresh Key Lime Zest
1 3/4 cup 219g All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Powdered Sugar sifted for glaze
1 tbsp Fresh Key Lime Juice
1 to 2 tbsp Whole Milk
1/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for glaze
1/2 tsp Fresh Key Lime Zest for glaze
Pinch of Salt for glaze optional
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat room temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on high 1 to 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add room temperature egg and vanilla. Beat until mixed.
4. Add key lime zest. Add flour mixture 1/3 at a time on low beating just until each addition mixed. Do not overmix.
5. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls by hand.
6. Arrange on parchment-lined sheet.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until edges just barely beginning to set. Centers look puffy. This is correct.
8. Cool on sheet 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to wire rack. Cool completely.
9. Whisk glaze ingredients adjusting thickness with liquid or sugar. Rest 5 to 10 minutes.
10. Dip cookies in glaze or spread over top.
11. Sprinkle additional lime zest over each glazed cookie.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cookies, Summer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 123
- Sugar: 13g
- Sodium: 76mg
- Fat: 4g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 21g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 17mg
Keywords: key lime cookies, easy soft chewy key lime cookies recipe lime glaze, best key lime cookies brown sugar lime zest, refreshing summer key lime cookies
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