Lemon Lime Brown Sugar Shortbread

My lime sugar purchase from Spice Station in Los Angeles (see my August 9, 2012 post) inspired me to create this Lemon Lime Brown Sugar Shortbread recipe.

I knew I wanted a simple cookie that would compliment the intense flavor of the lime sugar. In the end I also decided to add a touch of light lemon royal icing to make the sugar stick and enhance the look and flavor of the cookie.

I really like how they turned out and they are simple to make. The dough is nothing but butter, dark brown sugar and flour. It's also easy to handle — There is no chilling required.

Lemon Lime Brown Sugar Shortbread
(makes 3 dozen)

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
2 1/3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Use a stand mixer and a paddle attachment to combine the butter with the sugar. Add the flour and mix until a dough forms.

Transfer the dough to lightly floured work surface and roll out the dough until it's 1/3 of an inch thick. Use your hands and a rolling pin to shape it into a rectangle that can be cut into 1 1/2 inch squares. Or you can use a cookie cutter to cut the cookies.

The dough ready to be cut into squares.

Be sure to prick the cookies with a fork before baking.

Prick the cookies with a fork and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges.

Let the cookies cool before icing and sprinkling with lime sugar.

To Decorate:

Royal Icing
1 tablespoon meringue powder
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2/3 cup powdered sugar
food coloring (optional)

2 oz. lime sugar (you can find it online at http://spicestationsilverlake.com/ )


With a whisk thoroughly mix together the meringue powder, water and lemon extract.

Lemon extract adds a little zest to the royal icing.

Transfer to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and add the powdered sugar. Beat until thick and smooth. Add food coloring if desired.

Before transferring to a piping bag, make sure the icing is flood consistency. You may need to add a little bit of water to thin it out. When you draw lines through the icing with a spoon it should smooth out in 10 seconds.

Transfer to a piping bag with a #2 tip and outline and fill the top of the cookie. Immediately sprinkle with lime sugar.

Sprinkling the lime sugar onto the cookie over a paper coffee filter is helpful so that you can shake off the excess and simple lift up the filter to pour the sugar back into your bowl.

Outline.

Fill.

Sprinkle.

All done.