Recipe: Lime and Cornmeal Cookies

Given the squeals of excitement I let out when I saw my shipment from Amazon had arrived today, I’m sure my doorman thought the box held something a heck of a lot cooler than a food processor. Unless, that is, he’s also been desperately pining for some homemade pesto for the past month.

I hadn’t planned on breaking in my new kitchen toy until hitting the farmer’s market this week, but oh how plans change when you flip on the Cooking Channel. There was Giada making cookies.. entirely in a food processor.. and with ALL gluten free ingredients. Now I’m not big on sweets OR signs, but the fact that I had practically all of the ingredients on hand (except for 5 limes!) meant that I had to make these cookies. Stat.

Tip: A wine bottle covered in plastic wrap makes a great rolling pin, and a drinking glass doubles as a cookie cutter. Hooray for small, unequipped NYC kitchens :)

[Original recipe from Food Network]

Ingredients (makes 36 cookies with 2.5 in. diameter cutter)

½ stick unsalted butter at room temp

1 cup sugar

5 limes, zested

6 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 egg at room temp

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups rice flour, plus extra for dusting

½ cup cornmeal (I used medium ground; substitute fine ground for less of a bite)

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 1/3 cup powdered sugar

Recipe

Make Cookie Dough: In a food processor, pulse butter, sugar and zest of 3 limes until combined. Add lime juice, egg and vanilla and process until smooth. Add baking powder, salt, cornmeal and rice flour. Add flours in batches if using a 3-cup processor. Process until dough comes together. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface (i.e. parchment paper) and knead briefly to ensure all ingredients are evenly incorporated. Form dough into a thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Bake Cookies: Turn half of dough onto a floured surface and roll out to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookies with a circle cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. You should be able to fit 12 cookies/sheet, as they don’t spread. Continue to combine scraps and repeat process until dough is gone. Bake cookies for 15-20 minutes, or until edges start to darken slightly. Move to parchment paper to cool.

Make Glaze: Combine powdered sugar, zest of 2 limes, and 3 tbsp of lime juice. Continue to slowly add additional lime juice or water until glaze is of drizzling consistency. Pour glaze into a ziplock bag and snip a tiny piece off of one corner.

Decorate Cookies: Once cookies are cooled on parchment, drizzle with glaze and let harden for at least 45 minutes before storing.