A meltaway is a soft crumbly cookie that melts in your mouth. These Lime Meltaways are a not too sweet cookie with a tart lime flavor that are dusted with powdered sugar after baking.
There’s a little shop in Key West, Florida, Kermits’s Key West Lime Shoppe, that sells Frozen Key Lime Pie on a stick dipped in Belgian Chocolate. It may sound like an over the top combination, but it’s fabulous.
I fell in love with it one hot day in June while visiting Key West on a cruise stop. I’ve been back to Key West several times since then and always head straight to Kermit’s for this tart but refreshing treat.
Another fun thing about visiting Kermit’s is they always have out samples of their delicious key lime treats. My favorite is a cookie called Key Lime Coolers with “refreshing tropical tartness sprinkled on every cookie.” They are little bite size cookies covered with powdered sugar. A wonderful combination of sweet, tart, buttery and crunchy.
I’d been wanting to try a similar cookie recipe Martha Stewart’s Lime Meltaways since I bought Martha Stewart Cookies earlier this year and when I saw a beautiful bag of key limes at the store I decided to give them a try.
These Lime Meltaways aren’t quite as tart as Kermit’s, but they have the same crunchy/sandy texture and sweet/tart taste that I love. The cookies are small, but a couple satisfies your cookie craving.
Update: I’ve made them several times. Sometimes I’ll make them with key lime juice if it’s available, but usually I make them with ordinary limes. You could even use lemons if you prefer.
Lime Meltaways
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- Grated zest of 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice or key lime juice
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and ⅓ cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Add dry ingredients, and mix on low speed until blended.
- Divide the dough in half. Use two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper to wrap around and shape each half of the dough into 1 ¼-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes.
- Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, 8 to 10 minutes. Place remaining ⅔ cup powdered sugar in a resealable plastic bag. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
More lime recipes you might like:
Chocolate Covered Frozen Key Lime Pie Bites, Barbara Bakes
Key Lime Pound Cake, Barbara Bakes
Key Lime Pie, Barbara Bakes
Raspberry Glazed Key Lime Cake, Lemons for Lulu
Key Lime Pie Breakfast Smoothie, Chelsea’s Messy Apron
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Marthe
These sound and look great, another recipe for my list of possibilities for my 12DoCC (12 Days of Christmas Cookies)
Carrian
so pretty, and we looooove lime!!
Juliana
Lime cookies, can you believe that I never had those? And I was in Key West last year 🙁
Anyway, yours look delicious, I am sure that I will like them, since I love everything that is lemony 🙂
Jamie
Barbara,
I am so making these cookies. I love Key Lime anything. I love your 12 weeks of cookies. You're giving me great ideas for my holiday cookies. Thank you!
HoneyB
I'm pretty certain this cookie would be loved by me….I love shortbread type cookies and I love lime!
Mary
A perfect name meltaways …because they just melt in your mouth !
Peabody
Oh yum. I have such a weakness for key lime, these look awesome.
Carrie
I've never heard of lime meltaways but they sound delicous!!
Deeba @Passionate About Baking
CRAVING COOKIES that are just these. Lime is right up my street & these are gorgeous!! WOW!!
teresa
oh i love citrus flavored cookies, these look wonderful!
Katy ~
Barbara, the minute I saw your photo and read your recipe, my mouth was watering for these! Oh, I think these sound just delightful! Love citrus. Perfect!
A cupcake or two
I have never heard of Lime Meltaways. I would imagine that they would be great with a hot chocolate during the winter months. Unfortunately here in Australis its nearly summer. I would still love to try these out. Thanks for the recipe.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Ok mummy I'm on my way to your house and I can't wait til I arrive and try all of these delectable delights! 🙂
From your new daughter,
Lorraine
xxx
Amanda
Barb those look delicious!
Nutmeg Nanny
Yum! I made these over the summer…they were delicious!
Lisa
mmmnnn! And key lime pie is one of my favorites.
Sasha
There look really delicious. Good job : )
I love citrus-flavored desserts. It's weird that lemons are so prominent in desserts but limes rarely make an appearance. This gives me ideas…
Sylwia
I've made these years ago, the recipe was in MSL magazine. I love the citrus flavor! Yours look incredible!
Natashya KitchenPuppies
Yum! I love the idea of lime in a cookie.
Bethie
Oh yum!! Those look divine. I love anything lime.