Christmas Cookies

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Last night my family and I attended 2 Christmas eve parties. I thought it should be a good idea to bring some homemade cookies to the host. So a couple of days ago, I began thinking of what to bake. I loved those gingerbread man cookies that I baked earlier this month. However, since I do not have the gingerbread man cookie cutter, it will be very tedious to hand cut them again. So... I decided to use the same recipe but cut them into Christmas trees instead. The end result was pretty good. I used lime juice and green food coloring for frosting.

To complement the rich spice flavor of the gingerbread cookies, I searched for something light and refreshing. I remembered watching an episode of Martha Stewart where she baked some lime cookies that melts in the mouth. Then coincidentally, Ju of The Little Teochew wrote a post on it on the 23rd Dec. I was so delighted to see the post.... Thanks Ju... I need not search for the recipe now. After reading her post I immediately made up my mind to bake them. She takes very good pictures and gave a good review and tips on this recipe.

Lime Meltaways

I spent the whole afternoon baking these 2 cookies. Packed them up into 2 boxes tied with a pretty lavender colored ribbon for the hosts.

I am glad that the cookies were very well received and well complimented (too!!).

There were numerous requests for the recipes.

Here is the recipe as promised.

For the gingerbread Christmas Tree cookies...please refer to my previous post on Gingerbread Man

Lime Meltaways (original recipe from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

• 12 tbsp butter (1 1/2 stick or 6oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar (icing sugar)
• Grated zest of 2 lime
• 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt

Method

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice and vanilla; beat until fluffy.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.
3. Between two 8-by12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4 inch (~3cm) diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (~190 degree C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove the logs fro the parchment paper and slice the dough into 1/8" (~3mm) thick rounds.
5. Place the rounds on the baking sheets, spaced 1" apart.
6. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly (8 -10 minutes). While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat.
7. Store baked cookies in an airtight container ( can last up to 2 weeks).

Notes

I baked these cookies into cute little rounds of 2.5 - 3cm in diameter.

The thickness is about 3mm.

Like The Little Teochew, I found that baking at 190C for 15minutes will result in burnt cookies. So, I baked mine at 160C for 9 minutes.

Happy Baking ;p