Salty/Sweet Mexican Treat! ;0)

I didn't post last weekend - but I did get to spend my Sunday afternoon with Deb and Brynn Ransom again... with Julie joining us in the kitchen. On the agenda was a recipe from my rebar modern food cookbook - their lime sugar cookie. The thought of limes and sugar made me think of margarita's.... so I decided to make these cookies but add some coarse sea salt along with the raw brown sugar. An outright success! These cookies will keep you coming back for more (Julie, Deb and Gigi both really enjoyed them since they both have more of a salty tooth than a sweet one). Easy to make - I even whipped up a batch for my friend Emily early this morning. Grab and go when you need a little escape from the end of winter blues... and a quick trip to Mexico! :0)

Margarita Cookies
ingredients:
1 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. butter @ room temperature
2 tsp vegetable oil
zest of 1 lime
1 large egg
juice of 1 lime
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. pumpkin seeds, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 tsp b. soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used some coriander flavoured sea salt)
raw b. sugar and coarse sea salt to sprinkle

Preheat your oven to 350F. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, oil, and lime zest until well combined. Add the egg and lime juice -the batter should loosen up and combine well.

Meanwhile, on your stove top - toast the sunflower seeds in a non-stick pan. Keep the heat about medium, and toss them occasionally. You don't want them to burn. The seeds will start to pop when they are done - about 5 minutes. Take the seeds off the heat and coarsely chop them.

In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, seeds, b. soda and salt. Add this mix to the wet batter. Combine with a wooden spoon.

I used my small ice cream scoop (which only seems to be getting lots of use recently) and form small balls, dropping them onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Leave space between the cookies - they spread out while baking.

Flatten each cookie with a fork and then sprinkle with the raw b. sugar and the coarse sea salt. Place in the oven and cook - mine needed about 12 minutes (but start off with 8 minutes and increase by a couple minutes... it all depends on your oven).

Cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes and then remove the cookies and place on a wire rack. You should get about 20 well sized cookies.