Key Lime Meltaways

Using your electric mixer, cream together the butter and icing sugar for a couple of minutes until fluffy, then add in the zest, key lime juice and vanilla and beat again until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt and then add this dry mix to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until it comes nicely together into a dough.

Divide this dough evenly into 2 (I weighed it) and then roll each portion between 2 sheets of parchment until you get 2 lovely logs that are about 10 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  This might take a ‘knack’, but using parchment on a cool countertop really did the trick for me.  Chill the parchment wrapped logs for at least an hour before baking (or freeze them for a treat another day).

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment.  Using a sharp knife, slice even 1/4-inch thick rounds and place them on your prepared sheet – they don’t spread, so you can fit a lot of them on one baking sheet.  Bake for about 12 minutes until just barely golden, then immediately transfer the cookies to a wire rack to quickly cool for 3 or 4 minutes.

While they’re still warm, add the 3/4 cup icing sugar to a bag and gently toss the cookies a few at a time to coat – these are obviously brilliant warm, but they also freeze very nicely after being sugar coated (and cooled) – enjoy!