Cornmeal Lime Shortbread Fans
Published December 1, 2020
Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Prop Stylist: Randi Brookman Harris.
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
2 limes
1 ½ cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
⅔ cup/60 grams fine cornmeal
⅔ cup/130 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup/225 grams cold, unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into 1-inch chunks
½ cup/60 grams confectioners’ sugar
Nutritional analysis per serving
33 grams carbs; 40 milligrams cholesterol; 276 calories; 4 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 16 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 155 milligrams sodium; 2 grams protein; 16 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grate 1 teaspoon zest from the limes. (You can usually get 1 teaspoon from 1 lime, but you may need to grate some zest off the other.) Add to a food processor.
- Step 2
Add flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt and pulse once or twice to combine. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Pulse a few more times until some of the crumbs start to come together, but don’t overprocess the dough. It should be somewhat crumbly and not form a ball. (Alternatively, you can mix this in a bowl using two knives, or use a pastry cutter to mix the butter into the flour.)
- Step 3
Press the dough into an even layer in an ungreased, fluted 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom or in a 9-inch pie pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Bake until golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes.
- Step 4
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Using a butter knife, cut the shortbread into 12 wedges while still warm.
- Step 5
Make the glaze: Halve the zested lime and squeeze 1 tablespoon juice into a small bowl. Whisk in confectioners’ sugar and, if you like, more lime juice to taste. (More lime juice will make the glaze thinner and more tart, while less lime juice yields a thicker, sweeter glaze.) Drizzle glaze over the cooled shortbread, then zest the second lime over the icing before it sets. (Use a citrus zester, if you have one, or a regular zester, if you don’t.)
Private Notes
Comments
From Pooja: Tis the season... for cookies. These are @clarkbar's cornmeal lime shortbread fans but with a few edits: I used cornflour instead of cornmeal and added one egg yolk to give them a more sablé-like texture — sandy and crisp to the bite, tender to the chew.
Just made these cookies. I was careful to not over process the dough. Pricking the dough with a fork disrupted the dough so I used a skewer instead which worked out better. A toothpick might be even better. The cookies have excellent flavor and texture and look lovely as well.
These are easy and delicious. But I couldn’t get the fans out of the pie pan in one piece. Next time I’ll form the dough in a disc on a flat tray and bake with parchment paper.
I was worried these wouldn’t work out based on comments, but they were fantastic! I used a 9” glass pie dish and put a parchment round on the bottom. I made sure to press the dough really well, and that made it easier to prick with the fork. I also put it in the fridge for 15 min while the oven heated up, which also helped with that. Baked for 48 or so min, then let it cool for 15 minutes on a rack. Cut into slices in the pie dish very, very carefully. Then I let them cool a bit longer in the pan until I could carefully take them out using an offset spatula. Then let the slices cool directly on the rack before glazing. Unlike others, I used fine ground corn meal (not flour) and thought it made for a delightful texture. Highly recommend these!
Loved these, the lime is a great touch. As with MC’s other shortbread recipe (with rosemary) I’ve found that the dough shouldn’t be overprocessed but shouldn’t be underprocessed either—I processed until the dough just started coming together. That way the fork actually pierced the dough when doing the pricking all over. I made one batch that was too sandy. Baked in a tart pan with a removable bottom and parchment paper just in case. They cut well and looked just like the photo. Will definitely make again.
I made them in a springform with parchment on the bottom and added an egg yolk. Have faith—the dough seems fragile and crumbly, but they do firm up when they cool and become sturdy and ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!