Coconut Lime Cookies

cooling rack with iced coconut lime cookies

Flavor and Texture: These coconut lime cookies are sublimely soft with a subtly sweet coconut flavor. The luscious lime icing has just the right amount of lime that is enhanced by the salt in the cookies. This cookie is perfect anytime of the year!

Coconut shortbread cookies

What is a coconut lime cookie?

In this case, we use use a shortbread cookie. What is a shortbread cookie? A shortbread cookie has no eggs and is mainly made up of flour, butter, salt, and sugar. To make the shortbread more flavorful, we add toasted coconut flakes in the dough.

I think cookies will always be one of my favorite dessert categories. If you gave me the choice between some really good cookies and brownies, I would choose the cookies most of the time.

I think that is partly because cookies were a huge part of my childhood. Whether I was in the kitchen making cookies for my dad or making holiday cookies with my mom, I made and ate a LOT of cookies! My mom was so good at making cookies and decorating them, and I instantly took an interest as a young girl.

Just the thought of certain cookies makes me instantly feel happy as thoughts of my childhood in New Mexico come back to me. Does that ever happen to you? I can think of the cookie jar, the wood cork lid, and reaching into the cookie jar to grab cookie after cookie.

These coconut lime cookies don’t come from my childhood, but instead were inspired by Gimme Some Oven. I didn’t look at her recipe when I created my recipe, but her cookies looked divine.

There is something very dreamy and summery about these cookies, although they would be just as good in the spring or winter for a cookie swap. These shortbread cookies almost melt in your mouth, and they have the perfect balance between sweet and salty. With coconut, you can’t not have salt in the recipe to enhance the lime flavor!

close up of coconut lime cookie

Baker Street Breakdown

  • These shortbread cookies are somewhat crumbly, so don’t panic when the dough doesn’t stick together as well as rolled sugar cookie dough.
  • Press the dough together and gently roll it with a rolling pin until the dough is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. The dough will crack during rolling, but push it back together and keep rolling.
  • These cookies get their soft texture from the cornstarch. Without it, the cookies are much harder and crispier!
  • Plain shredded coconut tastes good, but toasted coconut is amazing. The flavor of the coconut is more vibrant and gives the coookies real coconut flavor. In short, don’t skip the toasting!
  • The icing should not be super thin or it will run all over the cookies and onto the counter. Start by adding 2 tablespoons of lime juice and 2 tablespoons of milk. If the icing drizzles slowly and is somewhat thick, then the icing has reached the right consistency.
half eaten coconut lime cookie
Print

Coconut Lime Cookies

Coconut lime cookies
  • Author: Camille
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 11 minutes
  • Total Time: 26 minutes
  • Yield: 20 cookies 1x

Ingredients

Scale

Coconut Shortbread Cookie Dough

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup toasted coconut
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Coconut Lime Icing

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbs fresh lime juice
  • 2 Tbs milk
  • Lime zest for garnish

Instructions

For the Toasted Coconut

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread coconut out into an even layer on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until coconut starts to turn golden brown. Not all of the coconut will brown comletely.

For the Cookies

  1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until smooth. Cream in cornstarch and salt until mixed.
  2. Add coconut and briefly mix. Add flour and mix on medium speed until combined. Dough may look a little crumbly, but that is okay.
  3. Turn dough out onto a pastry mat or onto wax paper(preferred). Sprinkle dough lightly with flour and roll dough out until it is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. The dough may crack during the rolling process, so gently push it back together as the dough is rolled out.
  4. Cut dough out with a 2 inch cookie cutter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-11 minutes, making sure that the cookies don’t brown.
  5. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before icing.

Lime Icing

  1. Whisk powdered sugar, lime juice, and milk until smooth. Add more sugar if it is too thin, or more milk if it is too thick. Icing should slowly drizzle from whisk when it is the right consistency. 
  2. Fill a piping bag with icing and gently squeeze onto cookies in a circular motion. Top with lime zest and enjoy.

Keywords: coconut lime cookies, coconut lime shortbread, shortbread cookies

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

*