Thick and chewy graham cookies topped with a deliciously fluffy key lime pie filling!
Ever since Crumbl Cookies opened up a shop in my neck of the woods, I’ve been obsessed with their cookies. With what seems like a never-ending rotation of fun flavors to choose from, it’s difficult NOT to pop into their shop on a weekly basis.
Luckily, I’ve come up with the perfect excuse for my rather unhealthy Crumbl cookie addiction…I call it “research”. Because how else am I supposed to get inspired to make delicious recreations of my favorite sweets if I don’t try at least a dozen of them first??
So with summer zooming by WAY quicker than I would like it to, I decided to take a stab at Crumbl’s key lime pie cookie before the summer ends. This cookie has a graham cracker cookie base that’s topped with a refreshingly tart key lime pie filling, whipped cream, and a cute little key lime wedge. With all of this in mind, I was able to come up with these LOVEly little lime dreamboats…
Really, how could anyone say no to one of these cookies?? Not only are they extra THICC and supremely chewy, but they’re topped with the most HEAVENLY key lime filling. They’re basically mini key lime pies, but with the added bonus of a chewy graham cookie.
The cookie itself is soft, chewy, and loaded with graham cracker flavor. Aside from the graham crackers, the ingredients are pretty typical of a standard cookie dough–cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla and then mix in the dry ingredients.
When it comes to the graham cracker crumbs, make sure that you crush them up super duper finely, so that the crumbs are able to melt into the dough as they bake. You don’t want large chunks of graham crackers peeking out. To crush the graham crackers, you can either seal them in a plastic bag and “bulldoze” them with a rolling pin, or pulverize them in a food processor.
Instead of using the plain honey graham crackers, I used the cinnamon crackers. Usually when I’m making graham cracker crusts I like to add a little bit of cinnamon to enhance the flavor, so I figured cinnamon grahams would work just as well. If you don’t have cinnamon graham crackers, just add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon!
Now let’s talk about the dreamy creamy key lime filling…
It starts off with a good amount of cream cheese–two packages to be exact! Once the cream cheese is beaten until smooth and creamy, a can of sweetened condensed milk as added. Since the sweetness factor wasn’t quite to my liking, I decided to add just a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar. However, if you prefer a filling that’s less sweet, feel free to leave out the powdered sugar. It can always be added at the very end!
Of course, we can’t forget about the star ingredient of this smoke show–the key limes! You’ll need about 1/3 cup key lime juice as well as 1.5 Tablespoons key lime zest. Yes, it’s a lot of key limes to juice and zest, but the sweeter, less tart flavor that the key limes lend to the filling is SO totally worth the early onset arthritis. Trust me!
After a splash of vanilla and a dash of salt are incorporated into the filling, it’s spread on top of the cookies. Make sure the cookies are COMPLETELY cooled before topping them with the filling.
If you don’t plan on serving these cookies the day that you make them, I suggest storing them in the refrigerator (either covered or in an airtight container) since the key lime filling contains cream cheese. On the day you serve them, take the cookies out and allow them to sit at room temperature for at least an hour. Refrigerating the cookies firms them up quite a bit, so this sitting time will help to restore their wonderfully soft and chewy texture once again!
Soft, chewy, supremely thick, and deliciously tart, these Key Lime Pie Cookies are guaranteed to be an absolute hit ANYWHERE you bring them!
Key Lime Pie Cookies
Ingredients
Graham Cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temp.
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely-crushed graham cracker crumbs (about 6.5 whole crackers)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Key Lime Filling:
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- ⅓ - ½ cup lime juice
- 1 ½ Tablespoon lime zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch salt
To Decorate:
- Whipped cream for decorating
- Key lime slices for decorating
Instructions
Make the Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, and continue mixing until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, and mix on medium-low speed until just combined. If dough still looks crumbly, use your hands to squish/knead the dough together.
- Roll dough into balls that are a little larger than golf balls. Repeat process with more dough until you have 6 balls spaced at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Using the bottom of a glass (or palm of your hand), flatten each dough ball to about 1/2″ thickness. It’s okay if the cookies form a rim on the edges.
- Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Try not to overbake or you’ll end up with hard, crispy cookies. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Filling:
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, lime juice, zest, vanilla, and salt, mixing until completely combined.
- Scoop filling into the center of the graham cookie, spreading into an even layer. Pipe whipped cream onto the center of each cookie and top with a key lime slice, if desired.