Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups + 3 Tablespoons Cake flour (or almond meal)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (that's 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- Zest from 2 limes (3, if they're small)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. pure almond extract
- 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
Preparation
Step 1
In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside
In a separate, large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and lime zest. Using your fingertips, rub the zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant. Add the butter. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until blended.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition.
Add the almond extract, and beat for another minute.
On low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat until just combined (just long enough for the white streaks of flour to disappear).
Grab a large rubber spatula and give the dough a few good turns. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift the confectioners' sugar into a large, shallow bowl.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator. For each cookie, measure out a slightly rounded Tablespoon-size clump of dough. Roll each "clump" of dough through the confectioner's sugar until lightly coated, then roll each clump into a ball. Re-roll the ball in the confectioners' sugar until heavily coated. [Note: If the bowl of sugar is large enough, you can make about 6 cookies at a time.]
Place each coated cookie on the parchment lined sheet, leaving about 2-inches of space between each one.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the cracked tops have just begun to set. (Try not to over-bake.)
Remove the sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for about 3 minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack.
Makes about 25-30 cookies