Cookies!

I had a rare Domestic Goddess day. I cleaned, I cooked, a wrangled a toddler, and I baked cookies. I elected lime cookies because they sounded somehow refreshing as well as fattening. Yum. The lime went with the curry dinner, too. Not that we ate them with the curry. I just pictured sopping up curry with a cookie. Hm.

I tried a trick that I have seen on the TV before. You take your glob of cookie dough, wrap it in wax paper, and grab a sheet pan. You position the pan and hold the paper in such a way that you slide the pan on the wax paper and into the dough such that cookie dough fills the wrap in a perfect tube. Well, this was Herculean. I think I didn't give myself enough wax paper. I was pressing so hard, trying to use my body, and envisioning all the ways it could go awry. To wit: cookies dough squirts out the sides and onto the floor; wax paper completely rips and I slam the sheet pan through the dough, making a complete mess of everything; and a few other scenarios that involved personal injury and broken kitchen items. None of that happened; I got a decent tube.

I had decided that the frosting was superfluous and far too decadent for a cookie with such a high butter:flour ratio. But the wee glutton inside shouted, Why wouldn't you make frosting? You deserve frosting. The world needs more frosting. I listened attentively and realized that, having already done so much, yes, I did deserve frosting. I called my husband and told him to bring home a lime for the frosting ... and a bottle of Lillet. Because I deserved that too.

This was my restaurant pour, i.e. 1 oz. of drink over lots of ice, with a twist! I like mine with a splash of soda. The orange twist, by the way, is a must.

Lime Cookies:

Cream together 12T unsalted butter (1.5 sticks), 1/4 cup each powdered sugar and granulated sugar. Mix in 2T lime juice and 2T zest (from two medium limes). Add 1.5 cups flour, a bit at a time, until blended. Make a tube of cookie dough in wax paper however you can: roll it out on a floured surface first, try the sheet pan trick, whatever. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, until sliceable. You can also freeze the dough for up to 3 months and slice at will. When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350. Slice dough into 1/4" cookies and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges get golden. Frost when cool.

Icing: 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 3-5 T lime juice, zest of a lime - Mix.