My dear friend Tammy mentioned making a batch of Orange Zested Cookies with Sweet Orange Glaze from the blog Stephanie’s Kitchen and I just had to try them! I love all orange treats and feel it is an under appreciated flavour choice because of its subtlety. Personally, it is one of my favourites.
Warning! These cookies kind of require chilling time. Stephanie didn’t wait but I know that sometimes it is best to chill dough when instructed. I leave it up to you!
The Recipe
In a medium bowl, rub together 1 cup granulated sugar with 2 tbsp orange zest. You want to infuse the sugar with the scent of the orange. I know, cool right?!
In a medium bowl whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.
Cream the zested sugar with 1 cup room temperature butter. Add one egg.
Add 2 tbsp fresh orange juice and then slowly add the dry ingredients until well incorporated.
This is the point I realized the dough was supposed to be chilled so I covered it directly with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Two days later when I finally had time…
“Scoop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roll into smooth round balls.”
Vague instructions like this drive me crazy. How big should they be? Do they require space in between?
So I made tbsp-sized balls and followed Tammy’s advice to smoosh them down a bit, otherwise they could end up with a lump in the middle.
Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. The cookies should be very lightly golden on the bottom. In fact when mine came out, they looked still-raw but don’t worry, that is what you want. You want to avoid over baking more than anything else.
The Glaze
I choose to sift 1 1/2 cup icing sugar. Sifting prevent clumps and you really want these cookies to be pretty. At least I do!
Add 1 tbsp orange zest and some fresh orange juice. The photo on the right demonstrates the consistency you want for a glaze. It should be thick but loose enough to drape from above.
Instead of pouring the glaze over the cookies I dunked the tops in head-first.
Then I let them set on a wire rack on top of a cutting board until they hardened.
An Alternative
Since a dessert without chocolate is not a dessert to Reg, I melted some butter into some chocolate chips. If I had whipping cream I would have made a ganache. Oh well! I dunked some of the cookies into the melted chocolate like I did with the orange glaze.
I had some candied orange and lemon peels in the freezer and added some for a decorative “Easter” touch. He loved them! But then he loved them without the chocolate too. Shocking!
Me? I loved them as-is with just the orange to scent and flavour the cookie. The cookies were moist yet kind of crumbly, the kind of treat that goes perfect with a cup of tea. Some of the directions drove me crazy but if you make it my way, these are a five out of five in my foodie world. Exactly the kind of spring-inspired treat I have been waiting for.
Thanks Tammy & Stephanie!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked these cookies. I have to say they’ve been one of my biggest dessert successes! I will be making them again. I think I’ll try using lime next time. I also “dunked” mine after trying to spread the glaze on the first cookie – much easier to dunk! I also really like your chocolate idea – orange and chocolate go well together! Yummy 🙂
Totally love them Tammy, thank you so much! I love lime, gotta try that myself. Yes, dunking is much more efficient I think too. I know, chocolate and orange together rocks!
They look stunning and the addition of chocolate to the tops is definitely the way to go. Although that glaze looks so pretty and tasty too.
Oh my gosh – these look amazing! I’m always on the lookout for a new cookie recipe.
I was thinking chocolate too when I was reading this – they look yummy!
What’s the minimum time for chill
Most doughs require at least one hour chilling time Sheem. Hope that helps!
I’m so glad you posted this, because the original recipe is gone! I made them at least 4 years ago and was afraid I’d never find them again.
One quick question: do you remember how many cookies this recipe makes?
Sorry Madeleine, it was so long ago, I don’t remember. If it was a ton of cookies, I would have mentioned it in the post. My guess is it was probably under 20 cookies.
Wish the recipe was shown like all others. Not have to look at the pics to get the ingredients. I like to print it. Can’t do that with this one.