Coconut Key Lime Thumbprints

The week after my birthday. Hartford has turned fully into fall. The maple tree in the yard is edging red. The nights are cool enough for a blanket. I went to the bodega Monday and bought green figs and saltfish and fresh thyme — Terrence's pumpkin soup ingredients — and I tried the recipe at home on Tuesday. It was good. Not Puerto Rican. Not mine. But good, and different, and a window into Terrence's island.

I brought it to the food bank Thursday. Terrence tasted it. He said, "Carmen. This is close. A little more thyme next time. And you should add a little Scotch bonnet at the end — not much, a flick — because the heat is the thing." I nodded. I will. Next Thursday I will make it again with his corrections. He said, "Carmen, my mother is in that pot a little." I said, "Terrence, good." We ate the soup together at a picnic table outside the food bank kitchen. Two seniors — we are both seniors now, he is older than me by four years — eating Caribbean pumpkin soup we had made together across islands. The food bank is teaching me things.

Mami this week had four good days out of seven. A better ratio than last month. She ate. She told stories. She complained about my coffee Friday — "Carmen, this is too weak, you did this on purpose" — which it was not too weak, but the complaint was a signal that she was herself. I will take a too-weak-coffee complaint over silence any day.

Sofía came Saturday. We spent two hours at the kitchen table and she studied for an exam while I wrote in the notebook. I was writing the caldo recipe for volume two. She was memorizing the cranial nerves. We did not talk much. We were each in our own project. At 5 PM I made us dinner — a quick chicken and rice — and we ate together and she said, "Ma, this is nice." I said, "What is?" She said, "Being at your kitchen table while we each work on our thing." I said, "Mija, this is what marriages look like sometimes. Two people in a kitchen." She said, "Ma, this is not a marriage." I said, "Mija, I know. I am saying this is a kind of love that works in a kitchen." She nodded. She went home. I washed dishes. Eduardo came in. He kissed my neck. He said, "Sofía looks tired." I said, "She is. She is going to be a nurse." He said, "I know." Wepa.

Terrence told me the heat is the thing — the Scotch bonnet, the thyme, the soul of an island in a pot. I kept thinking about that all week, the way Caribbean food carries something bright and sharp underneath all that warmth. When Sofía came Saturday and we sat in our separate projects at the kitchen table, I wanted something to put in front of her that carried a little of that same brightness — not a soup, just something small and sweet with that coconut-lime feeling I had been carrying since Thursday. These thumbprints were exactly that: a little tropical, a little tart, gone in two bites, the way good kitchen moments usually are.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 14 min | Total Time: 34 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/3 cup key lime curd (store-bought or homemade)

Instructions

Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a medium bowl, beat softened butter and sugar together with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add egg and vanilla. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla extract until fully combined. Reserve the egg white in a small bowl.
Mix in dry ingredients. Add flour and salt to the butter mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. If the dough is sticky, refrigerate for 10 minutes before shaping.
Set up the coating station. Lightly beat the reserved egg white with a fork. Place the shredded coconut in a separate shallow bowl.
Shape the cookies. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Dip each ball in the egg white, then roll in coconut to coat all sides. Place on the prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Press the thumbprints. Use your thumb or the back of a rounded teaspoon to press a well into the center of each ball, going about halfway down.
Bake. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the coconut is lightly golden and the edges of the cookies are set. The centers will still look slightly soft.
Re-press and cool. Remove from the oven and immediately re-press the centers if they have puffed. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Fill. Once fully cooled, spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of key lime curd into each thumbprint well. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Coconut Key Lime Thumbprints — A Little Sweetness From the Island Side