Coconut Lime Thumbprints

We've been getting some snow here in the Carolinas. We only got a little dusting today but it's supposed to start again overnight and give us about 3" - 5". Everybody run for your lives!!! haha

Anyhow, I thought these coconut lime cookies were a good way to put everyone in the mood for summer. I keep telling myself, "only one more month then spring starts!"

Coconut Lime Thumbprints
Yield: About 18 cookies

Cookies:
2 sticks butter, ice cold
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks, whites reserved
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sweetened coconut

Lime Curd:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup lime juice

Make the cookie dough:

• Cut the butter into small cubes.
• Blend the sugar, flour, salt, and butter in a food processor until the mixture is the texture of cornmeal and it sticks together when you squeeze it in your hand.
• Whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla (reserve the whites for later). Mix into the flour mixture. The dough will be extremely dry and crumbly. That's what you want.
• Line a dinner plate with plastic wrap. Dump the dough out onto the plastic wrap then form into a disk. Cover the dough with the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• While the dough is refrigerating, make the lime curd.

Make the lime curd:

• Whisk the eggs, egg yolk, salt, and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the lime juice.
• Transfer the mixture so a heavy bottomed sauce pan and cook over medium heat stirring constantly.
• After about 7 -10 minutes, the lime curd should thicken so that it coats the back of a spoon - about the same texture as pudding. You want to make sure that you're stirring constantly, otherwise the curd will turn out lumpy.
• Once the curd is thickened, remove from heat and transfer to a glass bowl. Immediately top the curd with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on top.
• Cool the lime curd in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
• While the lime curd is cooling, bake the cookies.

Bake the cookies:

• Using a spoon, "cut out" about 2 tablespoons of dough from your disk. Squeeze it between your hand to form it into a ball. It should be about the size of a golf ball.
• Roll the ball in the reserved egg whites. I found it was easier for me to just place the ball in the bowl of egg whites then brush it with a pastry brush.
• Then roll the dough ball in the coconut flakes.
• Place the ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

 

• Press your thumb into the ball of dough so that it flattens slightly and you leave an indentation in the cookie (that's your well for the lime curd!). I found that the dough crumbled a little bit when I pressed it with my thumb, so I had to kind of work with it to reshape it into a circle. Don't be afraid if they're not perfect circles, it gives them character!
• Bake at 350° F for 20 - 25 minutes.

Assemble:

• Allow the cookies to cool.
• Top with a small spoonful of lime curd. This gets a little messy so you want to wait until you're ready to serve the cookies before completing this step.

Spumoni Cookies

I love the pistachio commercials lately. They've got some pretty funny ones. Matt and I saw one a couple of nights ago and it brought back memories of how I used to love spumoni as a kid (and still do!). Almost as instantly as I thought of spumoni, the idea of spumoni cookies popped into my head. I made sure to write the idea down so I wouldn't forget. However, the idea has been haunting me for the last couple days. I couldn't stop thinking about them. So tonight I finally broke down and got a few ingredients to give it a try. Believe it or not, this was my first try at the recipe and I think it's pretty much perfect! Some things were just meant to be...

Spumoni Cookies

Yield: about 3 dozen
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
12 oz white chocolate chips (1 package)
1/2 cup pistachios, roughly chopped
10 oz jar of maraschino cherries, stems removed and cut in half

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix with a whisk until the flour and cocoa are evenly combined. Set aside.
• Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a stand mixer or in a bowl with a hand mixer.
• Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 additions, mixing for only about 3 seconds each time. You don't want to over-mix the cookies. The dough will be extremely thick; that's exactly what you want.
• Add the white chocolate chips, pistachios, and cherries. Mix for another 3 seconds until combined.
• Spoon out 2 tablespoons of dough - about the size of a golf ball. Roll the dough between your hands into a ball shape. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave at least 2 inches between cookies.
• Bake at 350F for 12 - 14 minutes until firm but not crisp.
• Allow to cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. If you skip this step, your cookies will crumble apart.

Isn't Lola so helpful?!

I was thinking about turning these into ice cream sandwiches with spumoni ice cream in the middle. Too much? Maybe. But the only reason I didn't was because I couldn't find spumoni ice cream at Walmart tonight *runs away in shame*

Notes:

1. This is a great recipe to start practicing prepping your mise-en-place with. This term refers to the practice of getting all of your ingredients ready before you start cooking. I'm not saying you need your vanilla ready to go in a tiny little bowl like you see on tv. But just have all of your ingredients out of the cupboard and ready to go; have the pistachios chopped and the cherries stemmed and halved; have the baking soda, cocoa, etc ready; have your measuring instruments out; etc. This will make cooking and baking much easier.
2. If you've never used parchment paper before, I heavily encourage you to start now. Once you use it, you won't know how you ever survived with out it. Your cookies and other baked goods will never stick to your pans ever again. It can be found at any store in the paper goods aisle next to the tin foil and plastic wrap. It's about $4 for a roll. But that will last you a while and it's well worth it!