Key Lime Sparkler Cookies

Here's another great cookie recipe I found on King Arthur Flour.  This is how they describe them:  Mouth-puckeringly tart and satisfyingly sweet, these crunchy, sugar coated cookies will become a family favorite.  You might be thinking, isn't that a more summer-type cookie?  Actually it's a great year-round cookie, but when I found it on KAF's site, they were touting it as an alternative Holiday cookie.  This time of year you find a lot of chocolate and gingerbread cookies, but why not slip in one of these snowy and tart cookies to brighten things up?

This recipe does call for a few items that you probably won't have in your pantry.  These items are lime oil, sour salt (citric acid) or tart & sour flavor, and edible glitter.  You can find all of these items through King Arthur Flour.  The lime oil and edible glitter can probably be found at your local cake store or Michael's.  You might even find it at a Williams-Sonoma.  I did a quick search on the sour salt and they have it available at Williams-Sonoma as part of their new spice collection.  It's also available on several spice sites.

One thing I love about these cookies is that they freeze real well, so it's very convenient for this time of year.  Now on to the recipe:

Cookies
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons Key Lime Juice
1/8 teaspoon lime oil
1/8 teaspoon sour salt (citric acid)* OR 1/2 teaspoon Tart & Sour Flavor
1 large egg 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Coating
1/8 teaspoon sour salt (citric acid*)
1 cup glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons white edible glitter (optional)

*Sour salt (citric acid) is what gives the cookies their sour bite—if you want less tang, use just a pinch.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and baking powder till well blended. Beat in the lime juice, lime oil, sour salt (citric acid), and the egg. Blend in the flour thoroughly. 

Roll the dough into 1" balls, and place them on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake the cookies in the top third of a preheated 350°F oven for 14 to 16 minutes, until the cookies are browned on the bottom. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Mix together the sugar coating ingredients in a pan or bag. Gently shake and roll the still slightly warm cookies in the sugar till coated. Allow the cookies to cool completely, then repeat, coating again with the sugar. (If you're freezing the cookies, you may choose to recoat the cookies in sugar once they've been removed from the freezer, before serving.)

Yield: 3 dozen cookies.

To scoop the cookies, I use the small scoop from Pampered Chef.  You bake them until the bottoms are slightly brown.  Watch them carefully because it can sneak up on you.  I would recommend you mix up the powder sugar coating as soon as you put them in the oven.  They cool down pretty quickly and you want to do that first coating when they are slightly warm.  Not too warm or it will become a gummy mess.  If I'm going to freeze them, I do one coating of the powdered sugar mixture and then freeze them in an airtight container.  I keep the left over sugar mixture in an airtight container until it's needed again.  You'll want to separate the layers of cookies with parchment paper.  When you're ready to serve, defrost and do one more coating of the sugar mixture.  

My sour salt is in a medium to large grain so when I mix it with the powdered sugar, I crush it a little bit first so it distributes nicely.  Also, you might be saying, what the heck is edible glitter?  It is flavorless and adds a beautiful touch to your baked goods.  I like to sprinkle some on top of the icing on cupcakes.  Gives it a nice sparkle.  When it first came out, it was on available in white (more like clear).  Now it not only comes in different colors, they are making it into shapes i.e. trees, hearts and stars!  I get mine at Michael's but a good cake shop should have it also.  If not, you can order it though KAF.  The recipe calls for white, but I do a combination of either white and green edible glitter or white edible glitter and green sanding sugar.  Combine all the ingredients for the powdered sugar mixture well and then add the edible glitter.  If stirred too much, it does tend to break down into smaller pieces and loses it's sparkle.  Enjoy!