Mojito Cookies

I know, I know. It's been a while since I posted a recipe. Here goes!

In addition to Orbit mint mojito gum, I've got to thank Gary and Alan for this cookie. One night over French-Brazilian food and lots (and lots) of caipirinhas, we started talking about all the recipes I've thought up but haven't tested. Mojito was on that list.

A mojito is a drink made with white rum, lime, and mint. For my cookie version, I used vanilla rum, lime juice and zest, and mint tea. Why vanilla rum? Well, as I've said, I'm not really a cocktail connoisseur, and I didn't want to buy a big old bottle of booze that I would never finish. So I stopped by the liquor store, planning to pick up a little nip of white rum. Unfortunately, all they had was spiced and vanilla-flavored rum. When life gives you vanilla rum, you make mojito cookies.

The cookie base was simple enough to figure out. I decided to use both dark brown and white sugars because I wanted a chewy but solid texture. I knew the flavors would work together because I've had a lot of success using teas in cookies, and my lime-based cookies are among my most popular. My only concern was that the flavors wouldn't be pronounced enough. To solve that problem, I decided to pull together an icing that incorporated all the flavorings in the cookie itself.

I started with the icing recipe I used with my Hot Cross Bun Cookies and did some tweaking. I have to say the icing was a pretty good idea. As you start chewing the cookie, the confectioner's sugar starts to melt, creating a cooling effect on your tongue. Next, you get a hit of the lime, then the mint, and then the rum. Yup...the icing was a good idea.

Put some plastic wrap or wax paper under the cooling racks before you ice the cookies. This will make cleanup a lot easier.

Makes 2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Mojito Cookies.)

Creamables	1 stick butter 2/3 cup dark brown sugar 1/3 cup white sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg yolk 1/3 cup lime juice 2 tablespoons lime zest 3 tea bags of mint tea 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon white rum
Dry Ingredients	2 3/4 cups oatmeal 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing	1 cup confectioner's sugar 2 1/2 tablespoons lime juice 2 1/2 tablespoons white rum 2 tea bags of mint tea

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk together until smooth.
4. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
8. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.
10. While the cookies are cooling, whisk together the icing ingredients in a small bowl.
    
11. Using a fork or a whisk, drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies.
    
12. To get the icing to set quickly, place the cookies in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
    

Comments

[Lorraine]

Glad to see this posting! I was starting to wonder if your "decision dilemma" took you away from cookie baking. Hope whatever you're deciding on will lead to a satisfying outcome!

[sweetie]

so much thought went into every element- it's fantastic!

i do have a question - why are tea bags listed under the "wet ingredients"? does that mean steep 3 tea bags? i should probably wait for the "picturing mojito cookies" post to answer my question, huh?

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Thanks, Lorraine. :-)

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Sweetie. Thanks! No, no steeping involved here. Just cut open the tea bags and empty out the contents.