Lime is the citrus of choice in Vietnam, from soups and stews to fish dishes and more. While not as acidic as lemon, it still packs a punch in these lime meltaways. These little bites take the best of Vietnam and turn it into a light, refreshing ending for any meal.
The Recipe
by volume                             by weight
1 cup pastry flour                    120 grams pastry flour
1/2 cup soft butter                   113 grams soft butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar            31 grams powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice            28 grams lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest                2 grams lime zest
Directions
Heat the oven to 350F. Mix the butter with the powdered sugar, lime juice, and zest.
Mix until thoroughly combined. Add the flour and mix just until the dough comes together. Don’t overmix or the cookies will lose that “melty” texture. Scoop the dough into small balls and place on parchment paper. (I have a small ice cream scoop that I use for this so that all the cookies are the same size.)
Press the dough down lightly with your hand to form a patty. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, about 20 minutes.
Bake until light golden brown on the bottoms. The tops will still be quite pale. This will take approximately 20 minutes.
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, dust them generously with powdered sugar.
Allow the cookies to cool and then toss in powdered sugar to coat thoroughly. Dust lightly again with sugar passed through a sieve to achieve a smooth, finished texture on the top of the cookies.
Alternatives
These cookies can be made with any kind of citrus but the puckery ones are the best! Lime, grapefruit, and lemon work very well.
If you don’t have pastry flour use all purpose flour instead. The lime meltaways will not be quite as tender but they will still be delicious. You can also substitute 1/4 cup of cornstarch for 1/4 cup of the all purpose flour. This will also give a more tender result.
