Margarita Cookies

I came to margarita appreciation very late in life. I of course did not drink at all while my epilepsy was active, at which point my only memory of tequila was extremely nasty cheap stuff in college. But I love limes, and so one day after I started drinking again I tried one.

Wow.


So when I came across a cookie meant to emulate margaritas, with their salty sour citrus notes--and sweet too because it IS a cookie--I was all over that. These did not disappoint; the salty sweet lemon lime zing hits your tongue right as you bite into the cookie (much as the salt hits your tongue right before you sip the margaita), and it all just works. My husband could taste the salt, and he does not like salt so he was not a fan, but the kids and I loved them and so did a friend.

A note on the salt: unlike with chocolate desserts, you do want to stick to the recipe for the salt. I made the mistake of adding a tad too much (because I like a lot of salt with chocolate).


Margarita Cookies
Adapted from Salty Sweets, Christie Matheson

2 cups AP flour
3/4 t fine sea salt, divided
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, divided
1 large egg yolk
1 T fresh lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons and 2 limes, mixed together

Whisk together the flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter for 1 minute with a mixer (handheld or stand), and then add 3/4 cup of sugar and beat on medium high speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, lemon juice, and 3/4 of the lemon and lime zest to the butter mixture. Beat for 2 moreminutes. Slowly mix in the flour mixture.

Whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the remaining lemon and lime zest. Roll the dough into 2 logs 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter and the roll the dough logs in the sugar-salt-zest mix. Wrap the dough logs in plastic and chill for 30-60 minutes.

15 minutes before removing the logs, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line your baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Slice the chilled logs into rounds about 1/4-inch thick and place on the prepared sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or just until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottom and edges. Let cool on the sheets for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.