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orange cookies with chocolate dip

Orange Cookies with Real Oranges - No hand mixer is needed

Ms Shi and Mr He
This simple recipe shows you how to make orange cookies with real oranges. You don't even need a hand mixer to make these beautiful and buttery citrus cookies. These colorful orange cookies are perfect for garnishing your Christmas dinner table, and brightening your day throughout the year!
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 10 cookies
Calories 275 kcal

Equipment

  • Kitchen scale
  • Large mixing bowl & spatula
  • Baking sheet & parchment paper
  • oven

Ingredients
  

For the orange cookies

  • 2 oranges
  • 150 g unsalted butter (softened)
  • 65 g powdered sugar
  • 23 g egg white (room temperature)
  • 180 g cake flour (can be substituted with all-purpose flour)

For the decoration (optional)

  • 100 g white chocolate (You can use white chocolate baking chips, or chop a white chocolate bar into small pieces)
  • rainbow sprinkles

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl, mix softened butter and powdered sugar with a spatula (or a hand mixer) until well combined.
  • Add the zest of 1/2 orange (about 1 tsp) to the butter sugar mixture, mix with a spatula until well combined.
  • Add room temperature egg white to the mixture, mix with a spatula for about 5 minutes until well combined. *Make sure that all the egg white has been absorbed into the mixture.
  • Sift cake flour into the mixture, mix with a spatula for about 5 minutes until the dough looks smooth and there is no dry flour in the bowl.
  • Place the dough into a durable piping bag with a large star tip (I used tip 853, you can also use tip 846 or 826). If your piping bag is thin, you can use 2 layers of piping bags to prevent them from breaking.
  • Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
  • Peel and slice 2 oranges into 1/4 inch slices. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, lay 10 slices of oranges on the baking sheet.
  • Pipe out circles of cookie dough around the orange slices. Let quarter of the cookie dough overlap with the outline of the orange slices, so that they will stick together after baked.
  • Bake the cookies at 320°F (160°C) for 30 minutes. Take the baking sheet out from the oven, flip the orange cookies over (they are soft now, so make sure you flip them gently).
  • Send the orange cookies back to the oven to bake at 320°F (160°C) for 10 more minutes.
  • Transfer the orange cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

For Decoration

  • Microwave 100g white chocolate baking chips at 50% power for 1 minute. Remove the bowl from the microwave, stir with a spoon. If the chocolate has not melted thoroughly, continue to microwave at 50% power in 15-second intervals, stir between each interval until all the chocolate chips are melted.
  • You can spread a thin layer of melted chocolate over the center of the cookies, or dip a corner of each cookie into melted chocolate. Optionally decorate with some rainbow sprinkles or other colorful candies of your choice.
  • Place the chocolate-dipped orange cookies on parchment paper until chocolate is set.

Video

Notes

Storage of orange cookies:

These orange cookies are made with fresh orange slices. Therefore, they can't be stored for a long time. You can keep them in an airtight food storage container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. 
The cookie part will taste crunchy on day 1, and become softer from day 2 due to the moisture from the orange. I actually prefer cookies with a softer texture. So I usually enjoy these orange cookies one day after they are made. 

Use dried orange slices instead:

If you want to store these orange cookies for a longer time or if you prefer crispy cookies, you can substitute the fresh orange slices with dried orange slices. See my orange chocolate chips recipe for how to make dried orange slices. 
Orange peels are perfectly safe and healthy to eat, if you don't mind the mild bitterness from orange peels, you can leave them on when making dried orange slices.
To make dried orange slices, you simply slice an orange into 1/8-inch-thick slices, and air fry the orange slices at 225°F (110°C) for about 45 minutes, or until completely dry. 
Then you pipe the cookie dough around the dried orange slices and bake them at 320°F (160°C) for 30 minutes. You don't need to take flip the orange cookies if you are using dried orange slices. 
Orange cookies made with dried orange slices can be stored at room temperature for 2 weeks. 
Keyword orange cookie recipe, orange cookies