Lemon Lime Cookies

Cookies made with cream cheese and butter,
citrus lime zest and juice, rolled in powdered sugar,
then baked until they crack, these are really light and airy.
Almost melt in your mouth, and delicious eaten chilled from the fridge.
This was another cookie I took to our community block party.
(The other cookie was a Snickerdoodle bar http://peacelovesprinkles.com/2017/06/05/snickerdoodle-bars-perfect-for-a-picnic/)
These lemon lime cookies, or as my son calls them “Sprite” cookies
(because of the lemon and lime), are a no mess cookie.
If you enjoy citrus, try them out 🙂
Please make sure to read all the way through, you mix the dry together,
and the wet together, then this dough gets chilled for at least 2 hours.
Then you roll them in powdered sugar and bake. Not hard, just make sure you have time.

My recipe was inspired from http://wickedgoodkitchen.com/lemon-gooey-butter-cookies-best-ever-from-scratch/

Ingredients:

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 block (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature (used the low-fat)
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest, from 2 large lemons
2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest, from 1 lime
1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Madagascar Vanilla Paste by D’Allesandro, 1 Qt Bottle
1/8 teaspoon yellow gel based food coloring, such as Americolor from Amazon – this is great stuff!
(This ingredient is optional just so they look like a lemon/lime cookie – feel free to leave it out)
Americolor Soft Gel Paste Student Color Kit 12 pc.
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

1 cup powdered sugar, for rolling & dusting cookies

Directions:

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream together the room temperature cream cheese and butter.

Use a microplane to zest the lemon and lime.
I always rinse the outside of my produce, before I zest it.
Who needs wax and dirt in their food?
Microplane 40020 Classic Zester/Grater

I also zest it over wax paper so it is easier to scoop up.
Drop the zest in with the butter and cream cheese.

Add the juice as well.

Add the little bit of yellow food color gel.
This is totally optional.
Add vanilla and continue to mix.

Add the dry ingredients and mix gently, just until it comes together.
No need to over mix.

Do you like my action shots??

****STOP**** Now chill the dough for a minimum of 2 hours to overnight!
I hope you listen to me! 🙂

Put the powdered sugar in a bowl. Scoop the cookies,
and roll them in the powdered sugar.

Put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
I got quite a few cookies out of this batch – I think around 4 dozen.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Do not overbake.
The tops will start to crackle and the bottoms are just starting to turn brown.

As my husband describes it, half cake half cookie. See the picture below?
You can store them in the fridge and they are more of a buttery cookie when they
are totally cold.

Try this refreshing treat for summer.
My daughter would try to pass this cookie off as a fruit since it has zest and juice,
Nice try ♥, I don’t think so, LOL!