Mint Mojito Sugar Cookies

The other evening I was feeling a bit creative and figured since I had made lemon sugar cookies last spring it was time to make lime sugar cookies. Unfortunately, I was short a lime, but I did have mint growing like a weed in my backyard. I figured lime and mint go together in a number of beverages, so why not try it in cookie form?

I started by zesting and juicing the lime. I then stripped two sprigs of mint of their leaves and put them in the food processor with 1 cup of sugar and pulsed until the mint leaves were chopped up finely.

From there I followed the original recipe almost exactly.

Admittedly, I was a bit nervous for the end results, but luckily the cookies were actually good! Really good! They ended up being a really refreshing sugar cookie with just the slightest hint of lime and mint! Dare I say it -- the perfect summer cookie that will have to be repeated. Especially when I need to get rid of some extra mint.

BTW, we also used these to make frozen yogurt sandwiches with some mango-peach and raspberry frozen yogurt, which also ended up being really good. Next time I'd like to make sandwiches with some of simple pineapple sorbet.

Mint Mojito Sugar Cookies

Note: The basic recipe was based off of the lemon sugar cookie recipe from pinchmysalt.com

2 C. sugar, divided
Zest of 1 lime
1 C. butter, softened
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla
1 T. lime juice
2 3/4 C flour
1/4 t. salt
2 t. cream of tartar
1 t. baking soda

Prepare mint/lime sugar: In a food processor, blend 1 c sugar with 1T of lime zest and the leaves of two mint sprigs. Pulse several times until the lime zest and mint leaves are incorporated into the sugar. Reserve 1/2c of the sugar mixture for rolling the cookies in before baking.

Prepare cookie dough: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and remaining 1/2 sugar mixture and 1 c sugar. Blend in eggs, one at a time then add vanilla and lime juice. Add flour mixture, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition, until all flour is incorporated.

Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop dough the roll into a ball and then into the mint/lime sugar. Place ball of dough on cookie sheet and press down lightly with the bottom of a glass until cookie is about 1/2 inch thick. Repeat.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.