Sunday, July 21, 2013

Orange Cookies with Orange Glaze

Recently a good friend of mine lost a family member. As always during that time, her family received a ton of food from friends. I wanted to make them something but I wanted it to be cookies or a cake or something yummy like that instead of giving them more pasta that they will probably never be able to finish. I asked her what kind of cookies her family liked and got two answers... Chocolate chip and orange. Hmmm... I never made orange cookies before! Let's go with that one.

First thing first, I searched Pinterest. I checked out a few cookies that looked good but I settled on a recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. (I will add a link directly to the cookie later.) They looked amazingly good and I couldn't wait to start baking! Sadly, I had to... Can't make orange cookies if you don't have any oranges!

The wait was well worth it. Since I was making them for a friend and her family I could not eat too many of them and that was the hardest part. I managed to get away with only eating four and my boyfriend, who claimed he didn't like orange cookies, managed to eat only two. (Although he really wanted to eat more!) They were soft and puffy and orange-y and delicious!

I only had one orange because the recipe I used didn't
say how many I needed. Get two if you want it to have a
stronger orange taste. (Although its not needed!)

Cookies
2½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
  1½ tablespoons orange zest
1 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350F. Get out your cookie sheets and set aside. (If you do not have non-stick cookie sheets, line them with parchment paper.) In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest. Rub them together with your fingers until the zest is completely incorporated into the sugar.

Cream together the butter and the orange-zest sugar with an electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and orange juice and mix until combined. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl to get everything. Reduce the mixer to low and gradually add the dry ingredients until combined. If the dough seems soft, put it in the fridge for up to 30 minutes.

Roll dough into balls. Mine were a little on the smaller side, about a tablespoon full. Place them 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges but still pale in the middle. Let cool on sheet for about 8 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. (The cookies will cook a little more while cooling on the cookie sheet.)

Orange Glaze
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
  ¼ tablespoon orange zest
fresh orange juice

 For the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, orange zest and enough orange juice to match the consistency you want together. The more juice you add, the thinner the glaze will be. Glaze your cookies and let set until the glaze dries, about 30 minutes. I picked up my unglazed cookies and dipped the top of them in the glaze and then spread it around a little. Store at room temperature in an airtight container, using layers of wax paper so the cookies don't stick to each other.

Try not to eat them all in one sitting!


(Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.)


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