Coconut and Lime Cookies

Coconut and lime cookies made with a sugar cookie dough are the quintessential cookie! This flavor combination is perfectly addicting, especially with a bit of added lavender herb and lime zest as a garnish.

These festive cookies include a super simple lime glaze to create one of the best glazed coconut lime cookies you’ll ever taste!

Not only are these chewy lime sugar cookies delicious, they are also beautiful with their white background sprinkled with bright green lime zest and soft purple lavender buds.

With their beauty and memorable flavor combination, these sweets are the perfect coconut lime cookies to give as a gift or to bring to a gathering.

Looking for a sweet dessert recipe? Try White Chocolate Caramel Fudge or Peppermint Fudge!

Ingredients for Coconut and Lime Cookies

Gather your ingredients to include everything you’ll need to make the sugar cookie dough. This includes:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1¼ cup white granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons coconut extract (or vanilla extract)
• 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2½ cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• zest of 2 limes
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 cup toasted coconut (see below for how to toast coconut)

How to Make Toasted Coconut for Cookies

To make toasted coconut, spread a layer of coconut flakes on a baking pan. You can use either sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes. The coconut citrus cookies in these pictures have an unsweetened version but you can use sweetened coconut flakes if you want a sweeter cookie. (Of course, the cookie will still be sweet if you use unsweetened coconut flakes!)

Bake the coconut flakes for about 7-8 minutes at 300 degrees. Keep your eye on them and stir them occasionally. Once they turn a slight golden brown, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes.

You can use toasted coconut flakes in your sugar cookie dough, as this coconut lime sugar cookie recipe does. Alternatively, you can sprinkle them on top after glazing to use more of as a garnish in lieu of the lime zest and lavender used here.

How to Make Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

To make coconut lime sugar cookies, start by combining the soften butter and sugar in a blender, using the paddle attachment. Mix the butter and sugar at a fairly high speed until the butter is fluffy and soft. Then, turn the mixer to a lower speed, and add an egg, the lime juice, and the coconut extract.

Then, in another mixing bowl, combine your other dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Just stir them together so that they are evenly combined.

Put the mixer on low. Very slowly, add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar creamy mixture until all the flour is added and you have a thicker sugar cookie dough.

Zest two limes using a grater. Add one tablespoon of lime zest (about half the zest) to the dough and mix on a low speed until it is evenly distributed. Reserve the other half of your lime zest to use a garnish with the lime glaze.

Remove the mixing bowl from its stand. Using a spatula or a large spoon, stir in your toasted coconut flakes so that they are evenly distributed through the dough.

Baking Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

Next, roll your dough balls and place them evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can make the dough balls about 1 1/2 to 2 inches. The exact size is not crucial. The important thing is to ensure that all the balls are evenly sized so that they cook evenly.

Pour some granulated sugar in a small bowl (about 1/4 cup). Then roll each dough ball in it to coat them. This step is not critical but can help add a little texture to the outside of your cookie.

When you arrange your coconut lime sugar cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, make sure you leave plenty of space in between them. Leave about 2 inches between them to ensure they don’t bake together.

Once your dough balls are arranged on the parchment paper, use a bowl or a glass with a flat bottom (or another object with a flat surface) to gently press each dough ball to create a disc shape. Don’t smash them totally flat! Just press them down slightly.

Bake your coconut lime sugar cookies at 350 degrees for about 12 – 15 minutes. When the cookies start to brown at the edges, removed them from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 15 minutes. As they cool, you can make your easy lime glaze for sugar cookies.

How to Make Lime Glaze for Cookies

Making a lime glaze for cookies (or really any recipe) is very simple! You’ll simply combine three parts confectioners sugar to one part lime juice.

Squeeze the juice of the limes that you used to get lime zest for the coconut sugar cookie dough. For this recipe, you won’t need very much glaze. The flavor is fairly strong, so you will just need enough to coat the top and hold your garnish.

Use about 1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice and 3 tablespoons of confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) and just stir until they are well combined into a thick liquid.

Once your cookies have cooled, use a spoon to pour a bit of the glaze in the center of a cookie, then use the bottom of the spoon to spread the glaze in a circular motion through the rest of the cookie.

While the lime glaze is still wet, quickly sprinkle a pinch of fresh lime zest and lavender herb on top as garnish.

How to Serve Glazed Coconut Lime Cookies

You can serve your chewy coconut lime sugar cookies warm or at room temperature. You can keep them in an airtight container for 3-4 days or in the freezer for about one month.

If you’re making coconut citrus cookies well in advance and freezing them for later, consider just making the cookies, then adding the lime glaze and lime zest and lavender garnish when you intend to serve them.

You can use this coconut sugar cookie recipe for other sugar cookie versions. For example, you can add bits of gummy bears for a Gummy Bear Sugar Cookie.