Key Lime Pie Cookies

A wire rack with the baked key lime cookies on them and lime wedges.

Key Lime Pie Cookies are soft, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, bursting with fresh key lime flavor, and topped with a white chocolate glaze. They taste like a classic key lime pie but in a cookie - complete with a graham cracker cookie dough base, key lime juice, and fresh lime zest.

Course Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword key lime pie cookies

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 8

Total Time 33

Servings

Calories 132kcal

Author Jessica - Together as Family

Equipment

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter softened
1¼ cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons key lime juice (I use bottled)
2 teaspoons lime zest (about 2 limes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely crushed graham cracker crumbs
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
4 oz white chocolate baking bar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.
In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, or use the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes; the mixture should look whipped, cloud-like, and lighter in color.
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, 1¼ cups granulated sugar
Add in the large egg, key lime juice, lime zest, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined.
^{*You may have to scrape down the edges and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed together.}
1 large egg, 3 tablespoons key lime juice, 2 teaspoons lime zest, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add in the dry ingredients; all-purpose flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low speed just until combined and no flour dry spots or streaks remain in the dough.
^{*At first the dough will look crumbly but keep mixing on low speed until it comes together more; you should be able to pinch the dough together with your fingers and it should stay.}
2¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup finely crushed graham cracker crumbs, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the dough out and release into your clean hands. Roll it into a ball and place 12 dough balls per cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are slightly cracked and the cookies are puffy, the edges should also be a very light golden color.
Let the cookies cool on the warm cookie sheet for about 15 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely to room temperature before adding the white chocolate glaze.

White Chocolate Glaze

Melt the white chocolate baking bar according to the package directions. Once the white chocolate is completely smooth and melted you have two options; use a fork to randomly drizzle it over top the key lime pie cookies, or put the melted white chocolate into a Ziploc bag with the bottom corner slightly snipped, and drizzle the chocolate over top the cookies in a more even line pattern.
4 oz white chocolate baking bar
You can eat the cookies with the softer white chocolate glaze, or let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to let the white chocolate harden up and set before serving.

Notes

Key limes are not the same thing as regular limes; I don't recommend using fresh lime juice or bottled lime juice instead. Key lime is a tart lime flavor but it's also much more sweeter than regular limes. I use the bottled key lime juice from the Nellie and Joe's brand; which you will find in the juice aisle on the top shelf, near the bottled lemon and lime juices.
If you have access to fresh key limes then go ahead and juice those for the key lime juice. Also use them for the zest instead of regular limes. It's harder to find them at most grocery stores (at least where I live) so bottled works just fine as does regular lime zest if that's what you have access to.
When zesting a lime, be sure and wash it first and only zest the outermost green skin layer Do not zest further than that, like into the white layer, or else the zest will be very bitter. That's why you will probably need 2 limes for the zest.
My kids love to use some spray whipped cream and put a little topping of whipped cream on top of the cookie. It's actually really good and gives you that element of whipped cream like most key lime pies have.

Nutrition