Jamaican Icebox Cookies

Or: You know you like your co-workers when you bother to make them cookies- yet another recipe resurrected from the old Transplanted Baker site. Originally posted in April, 2009.

 

You know what are good? My Grandma Larson’s icebox cookies. It’s a recipe that has probably been around longer than The Hoover Dam and one that reflects back on simpler times when milk was delivered to your door and women baked in cotton house dresses and aprons.

  

Grandma’s recipe for icebox cookies is a classic one that is easy to customize and even easier to eat half a dozen of before dinner. Of course, the original recipe is called “California Icebox Cookies” because I suppose exotic produce like oranges, lemons, and almonds are what women living in the Midwest of the 1930s associated with California. I like simple generalizations like that. Like how you can toss a few capers and olives onto a pizza and call it “Provence”, or how you can buy everything from Old El Paso in the super market and can make yourself a “Mexican" dinner.

 
 

I’m going to go with that simple life and simple baking theme and call this updated version of Grandma’s cookies, Jamaican Icebox Cookies. Of course, it’s a solid fact that adding lime and coconut to any recipe turns it into Jamaican food, right?

   

A batch of these along with Grandma’s original Icebox Cookies were brought into my recent work meeting and now two dozen Norwegian kindergarten teachers can vouch for their deliciousness. Go out and buy a couple of limes and then you can too!

 

 Jamaican Icebox Cookies

Jamaikanske Småkaker

*A Transplanted Baker Original*

(Makes 3-4 dozen cookies)

 

1 cup (8 oz./225 g) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (225 g) sugar + 1 T.more for sprinkling

2 beaten egg yolks

3 Tablespoon fresh lime juice

Zest of one lime

2 2/3 cups (300g) flour

1/2 t. salt

1 small teaspoon (1/2 t.) baking soda

1 cup (100 g) shredded coconut

 

1. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg yolks, lime juice, and zest. Add dry ingredients, then add the coconut. Mix thoroughly.

2. Separate dough into 2 pieces, rolling each into a long, medium-thick log, wrap each in parchment paper or plastic. Chill overnight.

3. The next day: preheat your oven to 400F/200C. Slice your cookies thinly. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, one- inch apart and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake until cookies are golden, but not browned, roughly 10 minutes. 

Comments

[D. @ Outside Oslo]

Having a grandmother's recipes is so special. You're lucky to have that one! One of my grandmothers has an abundance of recipes, which she's sharing with me, but sadly my other grandma left behind few. She was very traditionally Norwegian, though, so I'm hoping that as I bake my way through Scandinavian cookie recipes over time, I'll find some that are similar to hers. There's one in particular that was like a shortbread, but more delicate, that she would decorate by pressing the tines of a fork into it. Does that ring a bell to you?

[Megan @ FeastingonArt]

They look delish Siri! I am of the mindset that lime makes everything better!

[Sassy Molassy]

Recent work meeting...Whatcha doin for work?!

[Sassy Molassy]

And yes, I need to make some of these. Anything with lime and coconut in it is a definite THUMBS UP!

[siri]

D- I AM lucky to have a few Grandma Larson recipes. I even have some of her old aprons (see blog header)! As for your cookie question, I'm trying to wrack my brain. Sandbakles are very shortbread-like, but require those little special tins and are not decorated with a fork. I'll let you know if I come across something that seems similar.

Sassy Pants- This is an old post from last year, when I was working at the Kindergarten. My job these days consists of 10 diaper changes a day and lots and lots of photographing. It's a very consuming occupation.

[Jes]

These look so yummy!!

[sassy molassy]

Thanks for the update, Sirimama. PS-I'm making these cookies at this very moment. Er, just made the dough. Off to the fridge it goes. Added extra lime for good measure (bc lime always makes things better)!

[bunk beds]

At this time I amm going away to do myy breakfast, when having my breakfast coming yett again to read other news.

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