Over the last three years since our little blog was born, there have been a lot of changes, but a few things have always stayed the same: an orange segment and the colors blue and green. So I totally giggled when I uploaded these pictures to my computer and realized that I had made orange cookies with blue and green in the pictures. This blog has totally infiltrated my subconscious.
I hesitate calling these bad boys cookies because they have a texture more similar to whoopie pies–soft, light, and cakey. And the dough is hardly dough–it’s thicker than cake batter, but not by much. But seriously, I’m throwing semantics to the side (not to mention my attempts to eat healthy…blah…nothing like cookies to derail that train) in the name of deliciousness.
For starters, you’ll need orange zest (lots–probably 1 very large orange or 2 smaller ones), orange juice concentrate, salt, baking soda, baking powder, flour, vanilla, sour cream (I’m pretty sure no bad cookie recipe ever calls for sour cream), an egg, sugar, and shortening.
Now…before any of you go and call CPS because I’m poisoning my children and the children of the world with shortening in my cookies, I want to point out that while shortening contained trans-fats once upon a time, it no longer does. Promise. Cross my heart, hope to die. Butter is too heavy for this recipe–the cookies will come out like rocks and not like dreamy little orange pillows that you’re fantasizing don’t have any calories.
So enough about shortening. Preheat your oven to 375 and then, in a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the shortening and sugar and beat until well-combined. Add the egg and beat until moistened. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat about 1 minute or until light and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add the orange juice concentrate and orange zest and mix until combined.
Like I said, this dough will be very moist. You’ll either need a cookie scoop or a tablespoon to scoop it out (a cookie scoop will be less messy) or you can fill a large freezer bag or cake decorating bag with the dough and squeeze it onto a cookie sheet. That’s what I did here because my cookie scoop was encrusted in Play-doh.
If you pipe them, you’ll notice the pointy, Hershey’s kiss-like tops:
You can bake them that way, but the tippy tops will get too brown before the rest of the cookie, so I flattened mine out just by gently pressing each tip down. And then I neglected to take a picture.
Bake these guys for about 8-10 minutes or until they are just starting to turn golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, combine some softened butter, powdered sugar, more orange juice concentrate, and orange rind with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. You can spread it onto the cookies, but I find it’s so much easier to pipe it on with a decorating bag or a heavy-duty freezer bag.
Not kidding. Baby angel clouds of orange heaven.
This recipe makes about 36 cookies.
Orange Kissed Cookies 1 c. white sugar Frosting Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a mixer, combine the white sugar and shortening. Beat until well-combined. Add the egg and beat well, then add the sour cream and vanilla and beat for about 1 minute or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and beat until combined. Add the orange juice concentrate and orange rind and mix well. Using a cookie scoop, drop the dough/batter (the mixture will be VERY moist–thicker than a cake batter but thinner than traditional cookies) by the tablespoon-ful onto a lined, un-greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies are set and just starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely. For the frosting, combine the frosting ingredients with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Pipe or spread over the cooled cookies. Yield: Approximately 36 cookies.
Recipe from Allrecipes.com
1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening
1 egg
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (add another 2 tablespoons for high altitudes)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. thawed orange juice concentrate
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1/4 c. thawed orange juice concentrate
1/2 c. softened butter
3 c. powdered sugar
2-3 drops orange food coloring (optional)
My daughter makes these cookies……OH MY GOODNESS…when you taste them you think you have died and gone to heaven!!!!!
I have made these a couple times with great success (and raves from those I shared them with), but I tried to make a double-batch yesterday for a baby shower and they were a complete failure! They were totally flat. Do you have any idea why they would do that? Could doubling the batch have made them flat? I was heartbroken as I raced to the store to buy store-made cookies. 🙁 I want to try them again, but if you have any suggestions for me, that would be great.
Thanks!
I’ve never tried doubling this recipe but yeah, sometimes doubling cookie recipes can lead to disastrous results. I don’t ever know exactly why or which recipes won’t double well, but it’s always kind of a tricky, nerve-wracking thing!
Oh!…I also wanted to say that I didn’t use Butter flavored Crisco, just regular, plus I used Wilton Butter Flavoring. (It’s a product found with cake decorating supplies).
I made these today, and LOVED them!!! In my oven they only needed 9 minutes (not 10). When you take them out at 9, they look like they may not be done cooking, but by the time they cool off & set up, they are PERFECT!!! (I cooked my first 2 batches for 10 minutes, and wished that I hadn’t).
I took these delightful little cookies to a family gathering, and realized that not everyone likes “citrus” tasting cookies. Some adults seemed to like them as much as I did, but certainly not all. Some of the kids did not like them at all (including one of mine….who doesn’t like OJ), and a couple wouldn’t even try them when I said that the frosting tastes like Orange Juice.
I loved them enough to definitely make them again, and I am excited to try them with Limeade/lime zest, and Raspberry Lemonade/lemon zest.
Thank you, thank you for a superb recipe! I love your blog!!!
These are divine. From the fluffy cookie to the smooth orangey frosting, they are perfect. Thank you!
I think that orange concentrate can be done at home. Boil 1/2 cup real fresh orange juice until it reduces to 1/4 cup and ready. It will be concentrate juice, then just let cool.
i made these last night…for no reason other than because i had the recipe printed out since it was posted and i needed a fun sunday diversion. they are amazing! my fiance is very picky about anything NOT containing peanut butter, and he loved them! thanks for another winner!