Lime Glazed Coconut Snowballs

These are my favorite holiday cookie. That's saying a lot because I happen to love most holiday cookies. Actually most cookies. Or any food with sugar in it. Still, when I say these are awesome, I'm not exaggerating. They are a wonderful, buttery soft sugar cookie dipped in a lime glaze and rolled in chopped coconut. It's a fresh, happy combination that is has the bonus of being pretty as well.

Lime Glazed Coconut Snowballs

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup superfine sugar (see note below)
1/4 tsp salt
16 T unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened
2 T cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 T fresh lime juice
1 T cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, chopped fine.
Note: If you can't find superfine sugar, simply process 1 cup granulated sugar in a food processor for about 30 seconds, then measure out 3/4 cup for the recipe.

Directions:
1. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time. Continue to beat the flour-butter mixture until it looks crumbly and slightly wet, 1-2 minutes.

2. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until the dough just begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds. Knead the dough in the bowl by hand a few times until it forms a large cohesive mass.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Working with 1 T of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay on baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch apart.

4. Bake the cookies until light golden brown. about 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Whisk 2 T of the lime juice and cream cheese together in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth, adding the remaining lime juice as needed until the glaze is thin enough to spread easily. Dip the tops of each cooled cookie into the glaze, scraping away any excess, then dip into the coconut. Let the glaze dry completely, about 30 minutes, before serving.

Yield: About 3 1/2 dozen cookies
Recipe Source: America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

Posted in: Dessert