Margaritas anyone?  It’s January!  Who would want an icy, summer beverage in the middle of the winter?  Someone on the beach in Mexico is my guess.  I am not that lucky girl with a cabana boy at my beck and call, so I had to make some changes to your typical margarita.  How about we turn it into a warm, moist margarita cookie!?!?   That sounds MUCH better for January.

Our dinner theme this month was No Kids! Which really made it an Alcohol Theme.  Whoot!  Everything that everyone brought had to have alcohol in it.  Everyone did outstanding, and dinner was delicious as usual.  I’ll be posting snippets of dinner throughout the week, so stay tuned.

I went with a cookie recipe that I had bookmarked some time ago, and it turned out delicious!  Light, flaky, sweet and sour.  A tastebud sensation.  You can make these non-alcoholic quite easily by simply taking out the tequila.  Some might say that the tequila is “optional” in this recipe but for this crowd, not so much!  I might have put a little extra in too 😉  Oops.

Margarita Lime Cookies

(adapted from MyBakingDom)

FOR THE COOKIES:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then add the lime juice, zest, and milk (and tequila, if using); mix well. Sprinkle half of the flour mixture over the wet ingredients; stir until combined. Sprinkle the rest of the dry ingredients on top and mix until combined.

Drop tablespoonfuls (I used a muffin scooper) of batter onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between the cookies. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until cookies are somewhat firm. Allow to cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks. Cool completely before frosting.

FOR THE FROSTING:

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon tequila (optional :))
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

To make the frosting:

Cream together the shortening and butter. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture comes together well. Stir in the vanilla and lime (and tequila, if using) and beat until fluffy. Add the zest and mix well. Frost cookies with a generous amount of frosting.

Next Up:  Cosmopolitan Cupcakes!