"You must share it with her to-night" ~ Jane Eyre

I pass up any chocolate dessert in a heartbeat for key lime pie. Come to think of it, I think the best part of any steak house is the Key Lime Pie, especially the one at Morton's. One of the main destination points on my trip to Key West next month is the Blond Giraffe. They make frozen key lime pie on a stick...oh, and cover it with chocolate, too! I cannot wait. This cookie recipe mentioned in my previous post was requested by Work in Progress, so I share it with her and all of you! I will not be adding the macadamia nuts, but feel free to if you make the cookies! I love any recipe that allows me to use my citrus plane zester.

Key Lime White Chocolate Coolers Recipe

Key Lime and white chocolate make an amazing combination that is refreshingly cool, no matter the season. This variation of meltaway cookies is perfect for kitchen gifts and ships well. Macadamia nuts are optional.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, cut into cubes
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 teaspoon key lime juice
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)
Additional confectioners' powdered sugar for coating (about 1 cup)

PREPARATION:Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat baking pad.

In a small bowl, combine flour, corn starch, and confectioners' sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, key lime juice, and key lime zest until smooth. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and begin mixing on low speed. Once mixture begins to get thick, increase speed to thoroughly mix until combined, scraping down sides. Scrape batter from beaters. Mix in white chocolate chips and optional macadamia nuts with a large spoon.

Refrigerate dough for 45 minutes to firm up. (It's important that the dough be very cold before going into the oven or they will spread.) When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1-1/2 inches apart on lined baking sheet, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until bottom edges just barely begin to turn brown. Do not over-bake. Let cool on baking sheets for at least 5 minutes, then remove to racks to cool.

Pour powdered sugar into a bowl. Roll key lime cookies in powdered sugar to cover. Store in an airtight container.

Notes: You can replace the white chocolate chips with finely chopped nuts if you wish, or use half nuts and half white chocolate chips. Because these cookies retain their shape and are not crumbly, they make perfect kitchen gifts for shipping.