Key Lime, White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut Cookies

 


My local grocery store had 3 lb bags of key limes on sale for $1 a bag and I bought three bags.  That means I have 9 lbs of key limes that need to be used.  I have made key lime pie ice cream before and it was wonderful so I plan to use some of the limes for ice cream.   Now, that takes care of about one pounds of limes so what to do with the other eight pounds?

I knew I wanted to make some type of cookie, something similar to the lemon coolers I get at the store.  I decided to take a basic cookie recipe and start adding ingredients.  My favorite cookie (before I made these key lime cookies ) has always been white chocolate and macadamia nut.  I decided to  take my favorite cookie recipe and throw in key lime – and boy was I right.  These cookies were perfect.  It has the perfect combination of lime, white chocolate, and nuts.



If I have talked you into making these delicate cookies, here is the recipe….. If you are not a big fan of macadamia nuts, just leave them out.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon Key lime zest (zest from 2 key limes)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons of white chocolate instant pudding
2 tablespoons Key lime juice (about 6 key limes)
1/3 Cup of chopped macadamia nuts
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

For sugar coating

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon Key lime zest

Note: if you don’t have key lime, you can replace them with any lime you have available. 

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat your oven to 325° F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. 
  • Blend in the salt,  1 teaspoon of lime zest (zest from 1 key lime), flour, baking powder, pudding mix and lime juice. (dough will be thick)
  • Stir in chopped macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips.
  • Roll dough into balls about one inch in diameter. 
  • Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. 
  • Cookies are done when bottoms are lightly browned. 
  • While cookies are still warm, carefully remove them from parchment paper and roll in your confectioner’s sugar/ lime zest mix (sugar coating mix).

This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.


I wanted to have the taste of the macadamia nuts but didn’t want large hunks so I put the nuts in a bag and turned them into more of a crumble.