It’s getting to the time of year when I pretty much stop baking. We don’t have AC, because for the most part, we don’t really need it. Our summer temps do sometimes climb into the 90s and a couple years ago we had more than a week of over 100 temps, that is not common here. And usually, it cools down enough at night to get the house down to a comfy sleeping temperature – we have a few kind of miserable nights sometimes, but not enough to make us willing to invest in air conditioning.
What really summers temps mean though, is that I don’t turn the oven on for several months – unless we get some unseasonably cold weather, and we certainly don’t wish for that. Seeing this coming always makes me get a little panicky – no baking? No cookies, no bread, no brownies? Which results in a flurry of baking around this time of year. But because of my self-imposed rule of at least 3 successful trials of any recipe it’s not always enough baking for something to actually make it to the blog. I’ve learned to check back a whole year in my recipe notebook to see what seasonal stuff I worked on, but maybe never quite got where I wanted it so I would feel confident about publishing it. I’ve rescued a lot of recipes this way.
Then there are instances like these cookies. They were perfect last spring. Like totally perfect. So perfect that I managed to bake two batches that got eaten before I could get any photos taken. They were gobbled up. Devoured. Gone. I suspect Larry, but there is always the possibility that I ate some in my sleep, or the house was burgled by cookie lovers. Then it got hot, and I was on to my 900th zucchini recipe, the cookies forgotten. Fortunately, I found them again, because these are cookies that belong on this blog. You want to make these.
They are crisp on the outside, tender and buttery inside and just popping with zingy lime flavor. Sitting around – should such an improbable thing happen – only improves the flavor and texture. So, lets get these babies made, shall we?
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated lime zest
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup sanding sugar, or other coarse sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 350º Line heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat butter in bowl of stand mixer for a minute or so - scrape down the sides of bowl
- Beat in the sugars, and cream together until the mixture is fluffy.
- Beat in the egg until creamy and light
- Beat in the lime zest.
- Add the dry ingredients, and beat until completely incorporated
- Form into balls with a medium cookie scoop [1 & ½ tablespoon size balls]
- Roll balls lightly until smooth, and dip the tops into the sanding sugar.
- Place sugar side up on prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes - there will only be a slight browning at the edges, but cookies should be firm to the touch.
- Cool on a rack. Will keep at room temperature in a sealed container for a week.
So easy. So simple.
They aren’t stuffed with oreos or candy bars or anything else. They are just themselves.
Perfect.
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