Key Lime Sugar Cookies

These key lime sugar cookies are tangy and sweet!

The soft and tender sugar cookie and the creamy frosting make a delicious bite-sized key lime treat!

This recipe for key lime cookies is very easy to make. With a simple cookie dough and tangy lime frosting on top, these sugar cookies taste pretty similar to a key lime pie. Serve them up for any occasion but remember to control yourself because they are so irresistibly good you may find you’ve eaten a handful or so before noticing. These cookies are always a huge hit and always disappear quickly so make sure there’s enough to share.

Key Lime Pie Cookies

These sugar cookies have everything I love about key lime pie. They are delicately sweet but have an abundance of key lime flavor. The sugar cookies are so soft and tender and topped with the creamiest frosting. Each bite practically melts your mouth. The citrusy green flecks of fresh key lime zest peek out from both the sweet frosting and the buttery sugar cookies for a taste reminiscent of a tartly good key lime pie!

Ingredients

For the cookies

• Butter
• Sour cream
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• Key lime juice
• Key lime zest
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cream of tartar

For the frosting

• Butter
• Shortening
• Powdered sugar
• Salt
• Key lime juice and zest

For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.

How to Make Key Lime Sugar Cookies

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter, sour cream, and sugar until well mixed.
3. Beat in the eggs.
4. Add in the vanilla, key lime juice, and zest.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar.
6. Carefully add the dry mixture to the wet batter. Beat together until combined.
7. Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the dough into balls about the size of a walnut. Use floured hands to roll the dough into a ball.
8. Place the balls onto a cookie sheet.
9. Flatten the tops of the cookies with the bottoms of a glass that has been dipped in sugar.
10. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Do not overbake.
11. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 2 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. For the frosting, cream together the butter and shortening.
13. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until blended.
14. Mix in the key lime juice and zest. If the frosting is too thick, add in a little bit of water or milk at a time to get it to a spreadable consistency.
15. Frost over cooled cookies and enjoy!

FAQs

What are key limes?

Key limes are a very flavorful tiny citrus lime that packs a lot of flavor into every one. Unlike a standard lime, a key lime is much smaller, about 3 key limes equal the size of a regular lime. They’re grown in tropical areas and seasonally available so you may have a hard time finding them year-round. The skin is thinner than a regular lime and more yellow in color, they also don’t store as well as regular limes, but the flavor they bring to recipes is so much nicer.

How long are frosted sugar cookies good for?

These cookies can be kept stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. I recommend eating within two or three days for the best tasting results and if you feel like you can’t eat them fast enough, go ahead and pop them into the freezer for a longer storage solution.

Can I freeze key lime cookies?

These cookies can be kept stored in an airtight container for up to 3 months. If freezing while frosted, I recommend freezing flat on a baking sheet until solid and then transferring to a larger container with parchment or wax paper sheets between the cookies to prevent sticking. then thaw cookies before eating.

If you enjoy this recipe then you may also like my other key lime recipes, check them out by clicking on the link below:

• Key Lime Vodka Collins
• Key Lime Pie Parfait
• Strawberry Key Lime Moscow Mule
• Key Lime Coconut Cake
• Raspberry Glazed Key Lime Cake
• Frozen Key Lime Pie Waffle Cones

Continue to Content

Yield: 2 dozen

Key Lime Sugar Cookies

Print

The soft and tender sugar cookie and the creamy frosting make a delicious bite sized key lime treat!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

For the cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sour ceam
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons key lime juice (about 4 limes)
• 2 tablespoon key lime zest (about 2 limes)
• 2 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

For the frosting

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoons key lime juice and zest (about 8 limes)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together butter, sour cream and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla, key lime juice and zest. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar. Carefully add dry ingredients to batter. Beat until combined.
3. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out dough, about the size of a walnut and with floured hands roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet. Flatten cookies with the bottoms of a glass that has been dipped into sugar.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
5. For the frosting, cream together butter and shortening. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Blend in key lime juice and zest. If frosting is too thick add milk or water until creamy. Frost over completely cooled cookies.

Nutrition Information

Yield

24

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 304Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 48mgSodium 222mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 0gSugar 26gProtein 2g

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