These Key Lime Pie Cookies taste just like the real thing – tangy and slightly sweet – but in a portable, hand-held form.

Key Lime Pie is a summertime favorite.  And I’m pretty sure we can all agree that it’s fantastic.  This version is pretty delicious, if I do say so myself.

The only thing that I could think of that would improve upon Key Lime Pie is having a portable version. Enter: the cookie.

After my birthday last month, I picked up a handful of new cookbooks, including Cookies & Cups Cookbook.  This recipe comes from that cookbook.  If you haven’t picked it up yet, I highly recommend it!

You’ll need (makes ~36 cookies):

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs, finely ground (not quite 1 full sleeve of graham crackers)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbs Key lime juice (fresh squeezed or bottled)
• 2 tsp lime zest, grated
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup white chocolate (optional)
• powdered sugar (optional)
• additional lime zest (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and graham cracker crumbs.  Set this aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add the egg, vanilla extract, Key lime juice, lime zest, salt, and baking soda.  Beat for another minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Bit by bit, add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture.  Mix until everything just comes together.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets (in ~1-inch balls), approximately 2 inches apart from one another.  Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing them to wire racks to finish cooling completely.

Once the cookies have cooled completely, feel free to dress them up a bit.  One option -the one that is used in the cookbook -is to melt 1/2 cup of white chocolate and drizzle it on top.  Another -which I went with- is to dust the cookies with powdered sugar and a bit of extra lime zest.