Guava Lime Sugar Cookies with Rum Lime Drizzle

I came home from the imports shop with a block of guava paste. Just for the heck of it. Then it sat for a couple weeks while I decided what to do with it. There is certainly a bread in the future as well, one block goes a long way. But for this time, I decided to zhuzh up my favorite crispy chewy sugar cookie base with some guava and lime. It was either that or toasted coconut, but as guava is very sweet, the tartness of the lime is much appreciated. The rum in the glaze is optional but very tasty! Eldest kiddo, that works at the aforementioned imports shop, said these were fantastic and needed to be made again soon. Her coworkers made short work of the ones I sent in. Hubby and youngest sugared out quickly but said they were good.

Guava Lime Sugar Cookies with Rum Lime Drizzle
makes 14 large cookies

½ cup (8 tablespoons)/113 g butter, very soft
1 cup/200 g granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
½ tsp sea salt
2 tsp fresh lime zest (zest of one lime)
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking soda
1½ cups + 2 tbsp/210 grams all-purpose flour
1 tbsp arrowroot powder (optional)
1½ cup/ 90-100g diced guava paste (dice into ¼" sized bits) + 2 tbsp flour

Icing
2 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp rum or ½ tsp rum flavoring
1¼ cups/ 144 g powdered sugar

First prepare the guava bits. Set out a small bowl and put the 2 tbsp flour into the bottom. Cut about 4 ¼-inch slices of the guava paste with a sharp knife, and then cut those into about 3 long strips each. Dice each strip into little squares to obtain little cubes of around ¼-inch. Put the cubes into the bowl with the flour and toss together and separate with your fingers. Toss the cubes into a fine sieve to sift off the excess flour. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, granulated sugar, egg, salt, lime zest and vanilla until smooth, about 1 minute. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in the baking soda, and arrowroot if using. Add the flour in halves and gently stir to combine. Just before the last of the flour is worked in, fold in the guava bits until no streaks of flour remain. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, heat the oven to 350ºF and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator.

Use a cookie scoop or spoon to portion out 6 rounded scoops per tray, spaced at least 3 inches apart on the sheet pans. Bake until lightly golden at the edges and dry and set in the center, 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Let cool for 5 minutes on the sheet pan; the cookies will flatten slightly and continue cooking as they cool. Finish cooking on a wire rack.

In small bowl, stir together the lime juice, rum/flavoring and powdered sugar until smooth. Add additional juice ½ teaspoon at a time to desired consistency. Drizzle over cookies. Let stand until glaze is set.