Lime Cilantro… Cookies?

Blake gets positively sad when there aren’t cookies about the house so that he can have one before bedtime. We’ve been traveling so much (everywhere from Ann Arbor to New Orleans, and we’re off to Milwaukee tomorrow!) that I haven’t had much of a chance for baking. I decided to jump on it today before we start out on our next travel adventure tomorrow.

We had some cilantro leftover from the Indian meal we cooked last week for the printmaking professors at BGSU, Janet & Sarah, and visiting artist Sean Caulfield. Since we’ll be gone 5 days, I knew I had to use it or freeze it, so I had the idea to combine my need for cookies with my need to use up this fresh cilantro somehow. I based my cookies on this Lemon Cilantro Cookie recipe by Liz.

I made a few changes/additions, however, including substituting lime for lemon (which I always prefer,) mixing in some cayenne pepper, and sprinkling in a few chocolate chips, of course. Because when faced with the choice of “To Chocolate or NOT to Chocolate,” well, we all know the right answer to that! I also used real eggs and butter in place of the vegan alternatives Liz explored.

Lime Cilantro Cookies

Lovely cutting board thanks to Kathryn & Andy Polk!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup shortening (I used Crisco)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 T + 2t fresh-squeezed lime juice (separated)
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t sea salt
• 1-2 t powdered cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
• 2 T lime zest
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I used a bit more!)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (I used Splenda instead.)

Directions

Preaheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together the shortening, butter and granulated sugar with a hand mixer or other. Mix in the egg. Stir in 1 tablespoon of fresh-squeezed lime juice and 2 Tablespoons of lime zest. Chop the cilantro finely (or process in a food processor for a finer texture) and stir it into the mixture.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cayenne pepper to taste (start with a teaspoon or two.)

Stir the dry into the wet. The other recipes I read stated that the batter would be stiff. I found it to be downright crumbly, but as long as it is moist enough to hold together when you roll it into balls for baking, it’ll be fine. If it is too dry to hold together, add a few more drops of lime juice.

Roll the dough into balls and place on parchment paper on pans. No need to flatten! Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned on the bottoms. Remove from pan to cool on racks or on a glass cutting board.

If desired, mix the 1/2 cup powdered sugar or Splenda with the remaining 2 teaspoons of lime juice and drizzle over the freshly baked cookies sparingly for a nice glaze. Splenda makes for a runnier, more transparent glaze than the traditional powdered sugar. I found I liked the cookies without this better, but give it a whirl if you’d like. Another recipe I checked out recommended flattening the dough balls before baking with the lightly-greased bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar and garnishing with a cilantro leaf before baking.

In Other News…

Here are a few pics of the main room in our apartment that I finally got set up, and a few other goings-on, as well.

My pin-cushion is finally refilling as I catch up on long-pinned but unfinished projects…

I carved up this linoleum block yesterday for a commission from my mother.

Sometimes I’ll eat a bowl of almond milk with blueberries, chocolate chips and nuts for a snack. The frozen blueberries froze the almond milk in this interesting formation.

And, some pics of our apartment: