Chewy Lime Zest Sugar Cookies (Dairy Free)
15 Mar
I spoke too soon and jinxed myself when I mentioned wanting the weather to stay sunny and awesome…so much for 70 degree t-shirt weather, now it’s rain, rain, rain! We need it, but I’m still no ray of sunshine myself in the midst of all the gloom, if you know what I mean. I took one look out my window today at the gray and drizzle and wanted to burrow under my blankets and cuddle the day away, only emerging for mug a few steamy mugs of coffee or hot chocolate.
Fall and winter before last, while I was still in school, I devised the most brilliant plan I’ve ever had to this very day. One morning while untangling myself from the warm cozy depths of my 18 blanket-clad bed in search of the elusive coffee that feeds my spirit and brings my limp, sleepy body to life in the morning, I realized the absurdity of just what I’d been a slave to all these years. No, the coffee is not the enemy here, if that’s where you think I’m going with this (it’s the giver of life). Instead of going to the coffee, the coffee should be coming to me. And so it happened- I promptly relocated my coffee pot to my bedside table. The very next morning, I had coffee at the reach of an arm. Done.
Now, I wish I could say this story was leading up to a declaration that I was able to accomplish the very same coffee situation with such ease on this particular dreary morning, but alas, I didn’t have the foresight. Bedside coffee may be making a long-overdue return if the weather keeps up this way! I realize this story has absolutely nothing to do with limes. Coffee doesn’t even taste good at all with lime in it. Also, at this moment all I can think about is chocolate, so there’s that.
Not only is there no coffee in this recipe, there is also no chocolate. Ooof.
This weather is really doing a number on me!
 Chewy Lime Zest Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup non-dairy margarine
* 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1-2 Tbsp non-dairy milk
* Juice of 1 lime
* Zest from 1 lime
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar mixed with zest of 1 lime (for rolling)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F. Line a cookie sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
Cream together the margarine and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla, and then lime juice, 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk, and zest.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on low speed between additions. If the dough seems too dry, add the second Tbsp of non-dairy milk, or a little more vanilla.
Scoop out 1-2 Tbsp size portions of dough and roll into balls. Roll in the sugar/lime zest mixture and place on baking sheet, about 1-2″ apart.
Bake 8-10 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine needed almost exactly 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the pan before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.
I can happily say, however, that these little cookies fit the bill for my green food-themed month perfectly! What I really like about these cookies is that unlike most sugar cookies, they don’t require all of that rolling pin and cookie cutter drama. Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place – Christmas cookies, heart-shaped Valentine’s day sugar cookies, my Noah’s Ark Frosted Animal Cookies *cough, cough*…
But this is not that time. Nor that place.
This is the place of simple, yummy, chewy, lime-spiked sugar cookies that melt in your mouth and clear the clouds from the sky…
Ok, let’s not push it. They’re just cookies, they can’t change the weather!
….But they will put a smile on your face! :))))
