Key Lime Meltaways

I bought my very first bag of key limes this weekend. I needed limes for some fajitas I was planning on making for Cinco de Mayo and happened to stumble upon them. They look just like regular limes only miniature which is makes them super cute. When I got home I Googled, 'key lime recipes' and the first one that popped up was for Key Lime Meltaways. I remembered seeing these in the airport gift shop after visiting my parents in the sunshine state and wanted to see what the fuss was about. Not having a huge sweet tooth, I liked the idea of a little bit of zing in the cookie from the lime. Although I tend to hate making refrigerator cookies since I don't like to wait the couple of hours for them to cool; the idea of making these and freezing in advance was great. As much as I love to bake when I 'have to' bake for an occasion it never fails that I have to stay late at work and have a lot going on. They came out soo good, I ended up bakinig them all. These cookies remind me a lot of one of my favorites, shortbread cookies with a hint of lime. Great for the summer :)

Ingredients: Makes five dozen

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 4 tiny or 2 large key limes
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (a.k.a. 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method:

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.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.
Between two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/4-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, just three or four minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Cost: $3.50 total, .06 per cookie
Time:30 minutes active, 1 hour 15 minutes inactive

Nutrition Facts: Amount Per Serving

Calories 42.6
Total Fat 2.3 g
Total Carbohydrate 5.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.1 g
Protein 0.5 g

Weight Watcher Points +: 1 point per cookie (I cut my cookies a lot bigger and ended up with two dozen so be mindful about how big you cut the dough)