These chocolate lime cookies pair eggless chocolate cookies and a zesty lime buttercream to create a delicious sandwich cookie with a difference!
Taking inspiration from a childhood favourite boiled sweet, the classic British Chocolate Limes, with their lime flavoured shell and chocolate centre, these chocolate sandwich cookies combine melt in the mouth chocolate cookies with a fresh lime buttercream.
Lime season is upon is here in Australia, and in addition to baking lime drizzle cake and using fresh lime to flavour satay pumpkin curry and guasacaca (a Venezuelan version of guacamole); I wanted to create a fun but easy bake with limes, and came up with these chocolate lime biscuits.
The biscuits are like shortbread in the fact they contain no eggs, or raising agent. They are very fragile when freshly baked, but do become slightly more robust as they cool, and just dissolve in your mouth as you bite in to them. (If you are looking for more egg free cookies, have a look at my eggless cookies recipes.)
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Ingredient notes and substitutions
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour. These cookies don’t using any raising agent so don’t substitute with self raising flour!
- Cocoa powder – I use Nestle Plaistowe cocoa powder, a premium Dutch processed cocoa powder, which gives the cookies a wonderful rich dark colour.
- Butter – unsalted butter or salted butter are both fine to use in this recipe. Make sure it is room temperature otherwise you won’t be able to mix it into the dry ingredients.
- White sugar – also known as granulated sugar.
- Icing sugar – also known as confectioners sugar.
- Fresh limes – both the lime juice and the lime zest is used in this recipe so if you can get unwaxed limes, use those.
How to make these chocolate and lime sandwich cookies
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for the full recipe.
Make The Chocolate Cookies
Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the softened butter and beat into the dry ingredients. If your butter isn’t softened then this will be very hard work! I find the easiest way to mix the butter into the other ingredients is to first use a spoon, and then get my hands in and bring it all together. It takes a little time, and does look a little dry and makes you wonder if it is ever going to combine, but it does!
Once combined, roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper / greaseproof paper. It is a sticky, fragile dough so this will prevent it from sticking to your board and rolling pin.
Cut out circles and place on lined baking sheets, leaving room inbetween the cookies as they do spread slightly in the oven.
It is hard to tell with chocolate cookies if they are baked. Unlike other cookies which turn golden brown as they cook, chocolate cookies provide no visual clues so gently tap one on the side, if it feels slightly set then the cookies are done.
Leave the cookies to cool on the baking trays for 5 minutes and then remove with a metal spatula to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
Make The Lime Buttercream
Once the cookies are completely cold, make the lime buttercream.
Using a spoon beat the butter with the lime zest. This helps release the oils in the zest, adding more lime flavour to your buttercream. Sift in the icing sugar and beat to combine, then add the lime juice.
You can use a mixer to beat the buttercream ingredients but for this recipe you only need a small amount of buttercream which may be too small an amount for a standard-size mixer.
Forming The Sandwich Cookies
Turn half the cookies upside down, then using a piping bag or small sealable plastic bag with a hole cut in the corner, or a teaspoon, pipe the buttercream into the centre of each of the upturned cookies (as in the image below). Take one of the remaining cookies and place on top, gentle pressing and twisting as you do so, so the buttercream spreads out neatly to the edges.
FAQ
Absolutely! Chocolate and orange would make a delicious pairing!
No, this cookie dough doesn’t require any chilling. However if you are working in a warm environment you may find it easier to roll out after placing the dough in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
My recipe tips
- Don’t add too much lime juice to the buttercream – otherwise it can curdle.
- The chocolate cookies will be fragile fresh from the oven so don’t try to move them straight away.
- If the cookie dough gets too difficult to work with – wrap with cling film / plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- If you don’t have a piping bag – use a small plastic sandwich bag and cut a small hole in one corner, then use this to pipe the buttercream. You can also spoon the buttercream on to the biscuits, however this doesn’t give as neat results, but still just as tasty 😉
Make ahead/storage
Store these biscuits in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Why not try…
You may also like these other easy cookie recipes:
Chocolate Lime Cookies
Author: Robyn
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets lined with baking paper
- 1 round cookie cutter 6 cm / 2¼ inches in diameter
Ingredients
Chocolate Biscuit Dough
- 100g (⅔ c) plain flour
- Pinch salt
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 40g (⅙ c) granulated sugar
- 85 g butter room temperature
- splash milk, if needed
Lime Buttercream
- 30 g butter softened
- 3 teaspoons lime zest
- 75 g icing sugar
- 2-2½ teaspoons lime juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160℃ fan / 180˚C/ 355˚F
- Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, cocoa powder and sugar together.
- Add the softened butter and beat in to the dry ingredients until the mixture forms a smooth paste. It is easier to start off mixing with a spoon and then use your hands.
- It will look very crumbly at first, but it will start to come together.
- If the dough seems very dry after mixing for a minute, add ½ teaspoon of milk.
- Bring the dough together to form a ball.
- Place the dough in between 2 sheets of baking paper, and roll out out to a thickness of 4-5mm (0.15 -0.19 inches)
- Cut into an even number of circles – 5cm / 2¼ inches in diameter.
- Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, leaving a little room inbetween each biscuit as they can spread in the oven.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Leave for a minute on the tin, and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling
- When the biscuits are cold, make the lime buttercream.
To Make the Lime Buttercream
- Beat the butter with the lime zest until soft and combined, then sift in the icing sugar. Mix to combine.
- Add 2 teaspoons of lime juice and stir to combine, adding a little more lime juice if the mixture seems too stiff to pipe. However be aware that adding too much lime juice can cause the buttercream to split.
- Spread a teaspoonful of the buttercream – or pipe it – onto half of the biscuits (taking care as they can be crumbly), then top with the other biscuits, twisting slightly to squidge the filling to the edges – not too much or the filling will escape!
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour. These cookies don’t using any raising agent so don’t substitute with self raising flour!
- Cocoa powder – I use Nestle Plaistowe cocoa powder, a premium Dutch processed cocoa powder, which gives the cookies a wonderful rich dark colour.
- Butter – unsalted butter or salted butter are both fine to use in this recipe. Make sure it is room temperature otherwise you won’t be able to mix it into the dry ingredients.
- White sugar – also known as granulated sugar.
- Icing sugar – also known as confectioners sugar.
- Fresh limes – both the lime juice and the lime zest is used in this recipe so if you can buy unwaxed limes, use those.
- Don’t add too much lime juice to the buttercream – otherwise it can curdle.
- The chocolate cookies will be fragile fresh from the oven so don’t try to move them straight away.
- If the cookie dough gets too difficult to work with – wrap with cling film / plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- If you don’t have a piping bag – use a small plastic sandwich bag and cut a small hole in one corner, then use this to pipe the buttercream. You can also spoon the buttercream on to the biscuits, however this doesn’t give as neat results, but still just as tasty 😉
Nutrition
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Let me know your thoughts!