Mojito Shortbread Cookies

I must admit that I’ve always found baking to be a somewhat inscrutable art, more of a science really. And I always had a hard time replicating science experiments in school so I figured baking wasn’t going to be my thing. I think a lot of other people feel that way, too. Luckily for us, there is the shortbread cookie.

Shortbread is by far one of the simplest baked items, a simple ratio by weight of 3 parts flour, 2 parts butter, and 1 part sugar. And its simplicity lends itself to infinite variety and experimentation. In this case I thought I would try something crazy, turning a summery cocktail into a holiday staple. My friends and family gave it rave reviews so I though I would share it with you.

I present the Mojito Shortbread Cookie.

Total Time: 8 hrs
Active Time: 1 hr
Makes: 30 cookies

Ingredients

1 Cup Unsalted Butter (2 Sticks) + 1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter
Half of a Bunch of Mint (This may be helpful)
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 3/4 Cup Flour
Zest of 1 Lime
1 Tbsp. Lime Juice
1 Tbsp. White Rum (or lime juice or water)
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Rinse your mint. Place it in a small saucepan and beat it up with a wooden spoon. Really get in there. Release those oils.

2. Add 1 Cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter. Heat gently on low for 30 minutes, stirring and bruising the mint occasionally. Try to not let it boil too much.

3. Strain the the mint butter with a fine-meshed sieve into a clear measuring cup. Refrigerate until the butter solidifies, about 1 hour. The butter should separate into clear fat and liquid layers. If you managed to beat up the mint a little too much, it might be a little emulsified and not separate. If that’s the case, just throw it in the microwave for a few seconds at a time until it melts again and it should separate.

This is what it should look like after it has separated.

4. This should leave you with about 3/4 cup of solidified, clarified mint butter at the top of the measuring cup. Add the mint butter plus the 1/4 cup of remaining butter (or however much it takes to make 1 cup total of butter) to a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and salt and beat with a fork until the mixture is smooth. (You may have heard that you need to make shortbread with cold butter. I’ve found this isn’t really true at this stage. It’s easier to mix room temperature butter. As long as the dough is properly chilled before it’s baked, it will come out fine.)

5. Add the lime zest and flour. Beat with a fork until it forms a shaggy mixture.

6. At this point you might be saying to yourself that it doesn’t look like this is going to form a dough. It will, you just have to get your hands dirty. So wash them first. Dry them completely. Then get a hand in there and start smooshing and massaging the dough until it actually comes together in one solid mass. Keep kneading it until it is smooth and no longer sticky. (You might be worried this will form gluten and make the cookies tough. Luckily gluten formation requires water and there is very little water in this dough so you should be fine.)

7. Turn the dough out on a smooth work surface. I use one of these really thin plastic cutting boards. Using your hands, gently roll it out into a log about 14 inches long. (This random number was determined by the length of my cutting board.) The dough should feel a little greasy at this point so it shouldn’t stick to anything. If it’s sticking, you might need to knead it a little more.

8. With a sharp knife, cut the log in half. Carefully rap each half in plastic wrap, and gently place each log in a flat, level space in your refrigerator. The dough will be very soft so take care.

9. Chill the dough for at least an hour or up to overnight. Before you take it out of the refrigerator, preheat your oven to 325F. (Every oven is different. I usually actually lower mine a bit to 320F or 315F so you might need to experiment a bit to find the best temperature for you.) The dough should be completely firm by the time it comes out of the refrigerator. If you feel any give, leave it to cool for a little while longer. We’ll only be baking one half of the dough at a time, so leave the other half in the fridge until it’s time to bake it. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment. Cut the half-log into 16 rounds. I usually do this by scoring the dough with a sharp knife in half, then each half into quarters, etc. so I can make sure they are roughly even before I start cutting. (I guess you could use a ruler, but this isn’t the Great British Bake-Off.) The dough might be a little crumbly so use a sharp knife and be decisive. Place them in a 4 x 4 pattern on the baking sheet. You’ll notice the cookie on the top left is deformed from being on the end of the log. This will be the taste test later.

10. Bake for 20-25 minutes. (I usually go for 22-23 minutes in my oven). It’s a little tricky at first to figure out if they are done because they will be soft and a little sandy when they come out of the oven. Let them cool for a few minutes and transfer them to a wire rack to cool further. The bottom of the cookies should be only barely browned. Repeat steps 9 & 10 for the other half of the dough.

Top and bottom color comparison of baked cookie.

11. Let the cookies cool to room temperature, about an hour. Once they are cool, make the icing. In a medium mixing bowl, add the lime juice, rum (or alternative), and powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth. At this point, you might want to put some paper towels or plastic wrap or something to catch the excess icing when you apply it to the cookies. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of icing onto each cookie, smoothing it out with the back of the spoon. The icing should be fluid but not too runny. If you don’t like the consistency, just add more lime juice or water to make it thinner or more powdered sugar to thicken it up. Leave the cookies at room temperature for at least a few hours to let the icing set. Then enjoy!