Lime, Cornmeal and Black Pepper Cookies

For reasons I can't quite explain, I have always liked limes and lime-flavored foods. This, of course, isn't unusual on its face. Lots of kids like lime sherbet, popsicles, Life Savers, etc.  I like to think I took it a step further in that I actually recall sucking on lime wedges once upon a time (while being told by my dad, a dentist, that the acid would somehow destroy my teeth). And, some years later, when I discovered the gin and tonic, a lime wedge garnish was a key ingredient.

I don't eat them on their own any more, but I still really like limes. I usually try to have some around because they last a couple weeks and are pretty versatile: sorbet, baked goods, candy, drinks, etc. As I often use several at a time, I also really like inexpensive limes (see my previous post on enjoying food bargains). The best place to get these, by far, is in SE Asian/Indian grocery stores, where they cost a tiny fraction of what they do elsewhere. I recently found them on Devon St. in Chicago at 10 / $1 (compare at 3 / $2 at the supermarket in Ithaca)! I'm not actually sure why they're so much cheaper here, but I'm guessing it's because these cuisines squeeze fresh lime juice over lots of dishes, so people buy them frequently.

Anyhow, this is all lead-up to a cookie recipe I was playing with last night. The basic premise came from the Flour cookbook, which you all know by now that I adore. The original cookie is a sort of butter cookie with yellow cornmeal substituted for about 1/5 of the flour, and a hefty dose of fresh lime zest mixed into the butter. The cornmeal gives the cookies a nice crunch, color and texture. The lime infuses it with a fresh flavor. The cookies are then glazed with a lime juice and powdered sugar glaze with a bit more lime zest.

I took this basic recipe and added some fresh ground black pepper, plus a tiny bit of ground cayenne chile for added spice. I ran out of limes to zest, so I added black pepper to the glaze as well.

The resulting cookies were pretty tasty. They definitely had spice, but it was subtle and lime was clearly the dominant flavor. The black pepper may have gotten a bit lost among all of the other flavors, though. I'd likely stick with either that or the cayenne in the future, but probably not both. I gave them to the students in my graduate seminar today and they said they liked them. I will also be assigning them grades in a few weeks, though, so they may not be the least biased audience.