Melody Cookies
"Once upon a time, the Nabisco company made a cookie called Melody. They were large and round — I’m told by a cookie-dunker that they were just the right size to fit into a glass of milk — had scallop...
"There is so much lime zest that these cookie reminds some people of a piña colada. All of this comes as a surprise, since they masquerade as a plain coconut-dusted shortbread" --Dorie Greenspan. This recipe is excerpted form Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan, Rux Martin, Houghton Mifflin, 2016.
Ingredients
SERVINGS: 26 Cookies
- 1½ cups (204 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (32 grams) cornstarch
- pinch of ground coriander
- 2/3 cup (134 grams) sugar
- finely grated zest of 2 limes
- 2 sticks (8 ounces; 226 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup (80 grams) shredded sweetened coconut, half toasted
- shredded unsweetened coconut, for sprinkling
Instructions
Whisk the flour, cornstarch and coriander together.
Put the sugar and lime zest in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl in which you can use a hand mixer and, using your fingertips, work the zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant. If using a stand mixer, fit it with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and salt to the bowl and beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Turn off the mixer and add the dry ingredients all at once. Pulse the mixer and then, when the risk of flying flour has passed, mix on low speed until the flour disappears into the dough. Add the toasted and untoasted coconut and pulse to incorporate. There will probably be some dry ingredients in the bottom of the bowl — work them in by hand with a sturdy flexible spatula.
Turn the dough out and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disk.
Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough between pieces of parchment paper to a thickness of a scant ½ inch. Slide the sandwiched dough onto a baking sheet — you can stack the slabs — and freeze for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 325 degrees F. Butter or spray a regular mu n tin, or two tins, if you’ve got them. Have a 2-inch-diameter cookie cutter at hand.
Working with one sheet of dough at a time, peel away both pieces of parchment and put the dough back on one piece of parchment. Cut the dough and drop the rounds into the muffin tin(s). Save the scraps from both pieces of dough, then gather them together, re-roll, chill and cut. Don’t worry if the dough doesn’t completely fill the cups; it will once it’s baked. Sprinkle the tops with the unsweetened coconut, completely covering the rounds.
Bake the cookies for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the tin(s) after 10 minutes, or until the cookies are a pale golden brown — they’ll be a deeper color around the edges and the coconut on top will be toasted. Transfer the tin(s) to a rack and wait for 15 minutes, then unmold the cookies and allow them to cool completely on the rack.
Repeat with the remaining dough, always using cool muntins.
About this recipe
Storing
The dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months. The cookies will keep for about 3 days tightly covered at room temperature or for up to 2 months, well wrapped, in the freezer.
Playing Around: Ringed Coconut-Lime Sablés.
If you have 2-inch baking rings, use them to cut out the rolled dough. Place the dough — still in the rings — on lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the coconut. Bake as you would the muntin cookies. Leave the rings in place for at least 20 minutes before lifting them off, rinsing and reusing.
Recipe excerpted from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan.
Related Stories & Recipes
