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Key Lime Pie Cookies

Key lime pie, but make it cookie! These key lime pie cookies are loaded with salty and buttery graham crunch and a nice smear of key-lime cream cheese. So delish!

  • Yield: 24 cookies 1x

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the graham crumbs:

  • 2 cups fresh graham cracker crumbs (from about 1/3 of a 14 oz package graham crackers)
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the cookie dough:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp key lime juice
  • 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 1/2 cups graham crumbs (from above recipe)

For the cream cheese smear:

  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1 tbsp key lime juice
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar, sifted
  • lime zest for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Make your graham crumbs. In a food processor or blender, pulse whole graham crackers until they form crumbs. Add brown sugar and salt and pulse. Stream in melted butter and pulse until the mixture begins to stick together and form clumps, like the consistency of wet sand. Spread in an even layer on a pan lined with parchment and bake at 250 degrees F for 20 minutes, mixing the crumbs around with a spatula part way through. Remove crumbs from oven and allow to cool completely to room temperature on a cooling rack.
  2. Make your cookie dough. In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars and butter on medium-high speed for 3-5 minutes, until lightened in color and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating on medium. Add vanilla and lime juice and beat another minute on medium.
  3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Reduce mixer speed to low (or use a spatula) and slowly add dry ingredients into the dough. Mix just until streaks of flour disappear. Add graham crumbs and mix until just distributed.
  4. Make your lime-cream cheese. In another small mixing bowl, add softened cream cheese, lime juice, and sifted powdered sugar. Stir vigorously with a spoon or spatula until the mixture is smooth and homogenous.
  5. Time to put it all together. Spoon a scant tsp amount of the lime-cream cheese into a medium cookie scoop. Using the back of a spoon, spread it around to coat the inside of the cookie scoop. Then, scoop the cookie dough and place cookie dough ball on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat for each cookie. The cookies will look like they have a cream cheese covering.
  6. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy! These keep fine for several hours at room temp–then keep them in the fridge overnight as they do contain dairy.

Notes

  • You can use fresh-squeezed key lime juice & zest for this recipe, or do what I did and use the bottled key lime juice you can buy at gourmet grocery stores. Both will come out great.
  • If you do not have a cookie scoop, you could use a medium-sized spoon. You may have to push on the sides a bit to make sure each cookie dough piece is shaped like a ball before baking. But, I do recommend investing in a medium cookie scoop if you bake often.
  • You may have a few extra graham crumbs leftover–they would be delicious sprinkled on ice cream and yogurt, or even layered in a cake. Store graham crumbs in an air-tight container at room temp for up to 1 week.
  • Author: Caroline Crockett