Mojito Cookies Recipe

Mojito cookies, the best easy homemade shortbread cookie with lime, rum, and fresh mint just like the original mojito cocktail! These lime cookies are a fun Christmas cookie idea or cookie for anytime of the year!

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Oh boy, a fun and easy Mojito cookie recipe for you today! You’ve probably noticed I’ve been on a bit of a Christmas cookie kick lately with my Cannoli Cookies and Strawberry Daiquiri Cookies. You can never have too many Christmas cookie ideas right? These lime cookies with mint and rum are the best addition! These easy shortbread cookies are quick and easy and a fun twist on the cocktail!

What is a Mojito?

If you’re not familiar with a mojito, it’s traditionally a Cuban cocktail. Mojito ingredients generally include white rum, sugar or sugar cane juice, lime or lime juice, fresh mint or spearmint, then topped with soda water and ice. This lime and mint cocktail is a great summer drink, but who are we kidding, it’s really great year round.

The lime and mint version of the cocktail is the original mojito, but you’ll see all sorts of other variations with other fruit and sweeteners. And now you’ll see it in cookie form. haha!

So in honor of this fun cocktail, I thought I’d create these easy lime shortbread cookies with fresh mint and rum extract. This homemade shortbread cookie recipe creates melt in your mouth cookies that taste a lot like the original mojito cocktail!

My husband thought I was nuts, but he fell in love with these homemade shortbread cookies quickly, and he couldn’t believe how much they tasted like mojitos!

How to Make Mojito Cookies (Lime Shortbread Cookies with Mint and Rum):

For these mojito cookies, I strongly recommend starting with fresh mint, since after all, that is what you use in a mojito cocktail.

To start, finely chop the fresh mint, or to make things easier, I put the mint leaves and sugar in a food processor and pulsed a few times to chop the mint finely and combine with the sugar.

Once you have your mint finely chopped, cream the sugar, mint, and butter together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy in a large mixing bowl.

Beat in the fresh lime zest, rum extract and salt, followed by the flour until blended.

You could use regular rum instead of the extract, but the extract has a much stronger flavor so a little bit goes a long way.

You might be able to use mint extract, but I didn’t try it so can’t say for sure how it would taste.

With homemade shortbread cookies, it’s really important to refrigerate the dough. Form the cookie dough into a large round disk on plastic wrap, then cover the cookie dough completely. Refrigerate the dough at least 1-2 hours or until well chilled. You can chill the cookie dough over night too if you’d like.

Once the shortbread cookie dough is well chilled, roll out on a lightly floured work surface with a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thickness.

Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough out, and reroll the scraps and re-cut as necessary to use all the dough.

Place the cutout cookies onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet(s). For best results you can refrigerate the baking sheets with the cookie dough again until the dough is well chilled. You don’t HAVE to, but I like to.

The shortbread cookies don’t spread much while baking so you can place them fairly close together on the baking sheets. Before baking, sprinkle a little sanding sugar on top of the lime cookies.

Sanding sugar is a thicker cut coarse sugar, and adds a little “sparkle” to the cookies. You could substitute a little granulated sugar instead but it won’t have the same “sparkle”.

Bake these lime cookies for about 8-12 minutes or until just lightly browned around the edges and underneath. Baking time may vary a bit depending on how thick you roll the dough.

Happy holidays!

Hope you enjoy these fun and easy Mojito Cookies!

5 from 3 votes

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Mojito Cookies

Mojito Cookies, an easy cookie recipe based on the original mojito cocktail with lime, rum, and mint!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 42 minutes

Yield 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves (loosely packed)
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• fresh lime zest from 2 limes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons rum extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sanding sugar

Instructions

1. Place the sugar and mint leaves in a food processor and pulse a few times just to chop the mint leaves finely. Pour sugar and mint into large mixing bowl.

2. Add softened butter to mixing bowl with sugar and mint. Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in lime zest, rum extract, then salt until combined. Beat in flour until just combined. 

3. Form dough into a large round disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and refrigerate dough about 1-2 hours or until well chilled.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.

5. When dough is well chilled, roll out on a lightly floured work surface to about 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out into 2 inch circles using a round cookie cutter. Reroll the scraps to cutout additional cookies. The cookies should not spread much at all so you can put them fairly close together on the baking sheets.

6. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a little sanding sugar.

7. Bake cookies about 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees F or until cookies are lightly browned around edges. Cool slightly then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

SNAPPY TIPS: Be sure cookie dough is well chilled before rolling and cutting. For best results, you can also chill dough, cut out cookies, place on cookies sheets, and chill again before baking. The recipe yield may vary greatly depending on how thick you roll the dough.

SNAPPY SUBSTITUTIONS: Instead of rum extract, you can use rum but the extract has a much stronger rum flavor. If you're not a fan of rum, you can substitute vanilla. 

For more Christmas cookie ideas check out my Italian Christmas cookies and Best Chocolate Christmas cookies.