Margarita Cookies

It’s really full bore summer here in the Seattle area. A lot of people think we are weather wimps because we complain about the heat, but we’re just so unaccustomed to very much heat. We’re supposed to have a multi-day streak of above 90 degree temperatures, which makes me not so much in the mood to bake. I tried to plan ahead and do some baking before the weather got too warm. I got a couple of things baked but one short of my plan. Oh well, I will figure it out.

I have had these cookies pinned for some time now, and I don’t know why I hadn’t made them before. It seems like when I read the recipe before it seemed complex, and it isn’t at all. This is a refrigerator cookie, just rolled in sanding (coarse) sugar, and glazed. Not too bad at all. I found they were convenient to make when the kitchen was warm as I could make the dough and then let it refrigerate, and then cut and baked them up. It seemed like I was in the kitchen for short spurts. I did wait to glaze them, and well, since it is 86 degrees in my house right now, I had to put them in the refrigerator to set.

These cookies are good without the glaze. If you want to skip the alcohol you can leave the glaze off, or leave the tequila out of the glaze and use milk or water. I would refrigerate the dough longer than an hour. I thought that the dough was too soft to cut after an hour. I cut mine and then had to reshape the cookies as cutting them made them a funny shape. With the glaze they do kind of taste like a margarita, which is one of my favorite drinks. Either with the glaze or without, these cookies are great for summer.

Margarita Cookies

2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

4-5 drops green food color

1 egg

1 tablespoon lime zest

1 teaspoon orange extract

1/2 cup sanding sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon tequila 

In a small bowl, combine the flour and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the food color, egg, lime zest and orange extract and beat again on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Beat just until the flour is incorporated. 

Divide the dough into two halves. Shape the dough into a log, 9 inches long. Roll the log in sanding sugar. Wrap in waxed paper, securing the ends tightly. Repeat with the remaining dough. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Cut the dough into ¼” slices and place on the baking sheets. 

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly browned on the edges and bottom of the cookies. Allow the cookies to set on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool. Cool completely before glazing.

Make the glaze: in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, water, and tequila. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. 

Recipe from Love From the Oven