8/20/12

key lime meltaways

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I remember years ago (dare I say decades?) when I had my first taste of a rum meltaway cookie.
What a great texture, great flavor--and it bothered me to no end what made it so smooth.
Since I was still fairly new at the in's and out's of baking and cooking, I would have never guessed it was cornstarch.
Funny because back then I always thought it was something unique, wild, a rare faraway spice or herb. HA!
Here it was just cornstarch.
Recently, I had another "ah ha baking moment" find when I discovered how to get the perfect popover: cold oven.
And boy does it work. (I learned this from chef john over at Food Wishes).
The best part of learning and creating new recipes, all the new tips and tricks you find along the way; makes you eager to continue on learning all you can in cooking and baking. And for me, helps build confidence in the kitchen.

What are your baking "ah ha" moments?

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Aren't these so pretty?
Make sure to decorate the chocolate dipped edges with lime zest.
I completely forgot. But trust me when I say the lime zest green color looks stunning against the white chocolate.

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Every great recipe starts with lots of butter doesn't it?

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See my tips on tempering the ever difficult white chocolate in the recipe.
Low heat and constant stirring for melting chocolates perfectly.
Remember: you can easily fixed undermelted, but cannot fix overmelted, so go slow.

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Decorate the edges with lime zest to make them even more stunning!
(I completely forgot this part)

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key lime melt-aways with white chocolate
print recipe

13 TB unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Grated zest of 2 regular limes (I used about 2 TB zest, use whatever your lime zest taste level is at)
2 TB of fresh key lime juice (regular will work too)
½ TB pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups + 2 TB all-purpose flour
2 TB cornstarch
1/4 ts salt

white chocolate dipping:
1 and ¾ cups good quality white chocolate chips
a couple dashes of heavy cream

extra lime zest for sprinkling (I forgot this part)

Cook Notes:
I used key limes for the juice part and regular limes for the zest. The key lime juice is much sweeter and tastier, and the skin of the key lime isn’t that great so that’s why I used regular limes for zest.
Keep in mind the thinner you cut/slice the cookies the more fragile they become, so I stuck with ½ inch thick. If you’re not dipping them in white chocolate then go ahead make them thinner if desired.
The tops of the cookies do not brown, but the bottoms will—you should not bake cookies past the 15 minute mark.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the lime juice, zest and vanilla and beat the mixture until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixer to the butter. Mix until just combined—once you add the flour do not overmix.
Ready a two 8"x12" pieces of waxed paper or parchment. Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll into two 1.25" diameter logs. Wrap the dough tightly in the waxed paper or parchment. Chill for at least an hour before baking.

Heat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Slice the cookies ½ -inch thick and place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking, until the bottoms take on some color. The tops of the cookies will not brown, but the bottoms will.
Let cookies cool completely before dipping.
Temper the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream over a double boiler or whatever method you prefer and works. I do not recommend melting white chocolate in the microwave.
What I do is heat up (barely warm means heat up in this case), over very low heat, the heavy cream, in a small heavy duty sauce pan; add in the white chocolate chips and keep stirring with a spatula. As I’m stirring I take the pan on and off the heat and look for almost all the chips to be dissolved then I take it off heat. Keep stirring till I get a nice glossy, almost thin, taffy like texture. Best thing to do if you’re not sure about tempering white chocolate? Keep stirring and take off heat frequently. You can easily fixed undermelted, but cannot fix overmelted.
Dip one end of the cooled cookies in the white chocolate, place on wire cooling rack to let chocolate harden and excess drip off. Sprinkle them with lime zest for decorations if desired.

Should make 25-35 cookies depending on how thick/thin you slice them.

17 comments:

  1. Kathleen Fontaine8/20/12, 7:26 PM

    Love Love Love this recipe and your photos! Anything citrus is a must have for me...and I can't wait to try making these! Thank you Thank you Thank you for sharing this! :)

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  2. My husband is butt wild for key lime- I have to try making these for him. They look so pretty

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  3. I love love key lime anything - and these look scrumptious. And the white choc just is the feather in the cap on these for me. Delish work!!

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  4. Ahhhh, this looks majorly delicious. I love key lime in anything! Great idea to dip them in white chocolate. Can you send me some of these please??? :)

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  5. I don't think I've ever had a meltaway cookie, but the name alone makes me certain I would love them. They look beautiful even without the lime zest!

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  6. Hmmm - I love key lime everything but never thought of pairing it with white chocolate. Wonderful idea!!!

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  7. I feel pretty weird about the fact that I haven't had a meltaway ever in my life. What have I been missing out on all this time?? Obviously cookie magic.

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  8. Mmm I've never had a meltaway cookie but I'm sure it just melts in your mouth. I love the flavour of lime :)

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  9. I am ashamed to say that I have never had a meltaway. How can that be? It looks like that will be changing soon... BOOKMARKED!!!

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  10. Oh my! I'm drooling now...these look amazing!

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  11. Mmmmmm... these little cookies look wonderful! Love the key lime flavor. Delicious!

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  12. Just the name alone makes you want one. Meltaways. Sounds like the perfect cookie for any time of day.

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  13. i've never baked them myself, but i would eat these all up! (maybe that's why i haven't baked them lol). love the key lime and white chocolate combo :)

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  14. i like slice-and-bake cookies, but my favorite part of these beauts is the white chocolate dippage--yum!

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  15. Mmmmnn mn! I could see a bunch of these melting away in my mouth!

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  16. I have made a bact of your tasty cookies & dipped them too in white chocolate & in milk chocolate!
    My husband Peter & I loved them so much, sweet Dawn! :) They rocked! :) xxx

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  17. These cookies look so buttery and rich and yummy. Huh, cornstarch... I need to try that! Thanks for the tip.

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