Orange Cookies!

These are soft orange glazed orange cookies! This is the first time I've made them and I have to say I will most likely make them again but I wasn't so sure last night.  This is another one of those cookies that are better the next day!
I'm not so sure oranges are in season so I'm guessing they would be even better when they are! I thought there would be a much stronger smell when I was zesting them.  Maybe it was just what I bought, who knows. I bought a package that had 4 oranges and 2 different varieties of apples.  The recipe I followed I had to change quite a bit so I'm just going to write what I did.  Again I took pictures throughout most of it! The picture above is the final product! Three bite dessert? My big mouth says yes!

 

 

 

Here are all of the ingredients together ... I have never made orange cookies or cookies made with sour cream.  Like I said I had 4 oranges they weren't very big and it was plenty of juice but I would have probably liked to have more zest. 

 

 

 

This is the first 4 ingredients ~ hard to see them all but sugar,eggs, shortening & sour cream

 

 

This step took longer than I thought it would ... see all those lumps? They just had a hard time blending in and it was at room temperature too. So I let it keep mixing.

 

 

Here is the orange zest & orange juice which again you can't see ...

 

 













This is what it looked like after adding all of the dry ingredients. I never mix much after adding the flour just until it comes together.

 

This was the only way I could think of to show you the size cookie scoop I use ... just purchased it at good ole Walmart ... it makes the perfect size for what we like!

 

Scoop them out and bake!!

 

 

This is when they are done ... they don't really spread ... light golden brown on the bottoms and puffy ... Not done yet ~ Time for the orange glaze!!

 

 

Now I thought this was going to be wayyyyyy too much but in order to dip them it was just right I did have some left over but worth not trying to scrap up the last bit to try to cover them!! I also had to increase the amount of orange juice by what I thought was a lot compared to the recipe!! When the cookies cooled and it didn't take very long I just dipped the tops in and set them on the cooling rack with wax paper under to catch the drips!

 







 

Fresh dipped! The glaze stiffens up (it doesn't get hard) and like I have said they were just ok when they were made but then we ended up at the hospital for my daughter (she's ok) so today we ate them and they were really good! Has that hint of orange but it isn't a sickly sweet cookie even with all that powdered sugar! Now I don't have an actual count because part way through my son came through and took a plate to bring out to his friends but I think I got about 6 dozen

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Orange Glazed Orange Cookies

 

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

 

2 T orange zest

3 T fresh squeezed orange juice

 

4 cups + 2 T all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

 

 

Beat eggs in mixer bowl add sugar, shortening & sour cream

Beat until smooth & creamy

Add orange zest & orange juice ~ mix well again

 

In a small bowl combine all of your dry ingredients give a good stir then add to the wet mixture mixing until just combined with a couple of extra turns but not too much

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 

Using cookie scoop drop onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper

 

Bake for 12 minutes (that's what I did in my oven but ovens vary!)

 

I always let my cookies sit on the pan for about 4 minutes then move to cooling racks.  Let cookies cool completely.

 

Orange Glaze

 

(These are the measurements I used)

 

2 pound bag of powdered sugar (confectionery sugar)

2 T orange zest

3/8 cup orange juice

1 t vanilla extract

 

Combine all ingredients until smooth should be fairly thick but not as thick as frosting ... the picture above shows it pretty well how thick ribbons fall. (Depending you may need to add more powered sugar or orange juice.  The original called for 5 T I did 5T then added 3T then 3T then another 3 T which brought us to 3/8 cup!!)

 

Enjoy!