Orange Shortbread Cookies
Shortbreads are definitely one of those classic holiday favourites. They are easy to make and require fewer ingredients than other styles of cookies. In this version, I have added orange zest to add a lighter flavour and drizzled them with chocolate for added visual interest.
Recipe
Makes about 26 cookies (depending on size)
Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter (room temperature) zest from one large orange ½ tsp vanilla ¾ cup icing sugar ¼ cup cornstarch 2 cups of flour 4oz dark chocolate (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, cream together the butter, orange zest and vanilla.
3. Sift together icing sugar, cornstarch and flour. (Sifting is highly recommended because cornstarch and icing sugar tend to have clumps that will stay together and create clumps in your cookies)
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to your butter mixture. After a couple of minutes, the dough should form a clump, removing itself from the sides.
5. Empty the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Split the dough into two balls. Using a rolling pin, roll out one of the dough balls. You generally don’t want shortbread to be too thin, I would recommend rolling the dough just under half an inch. Cut the dough into your desired shapes, put on your prepared cookie sheet and put in the oven. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until you see signs that the cookies are starting to brown. Repeat this process with the rest of the dough.
6. Optional-> After the cookies have cooled, melt the chocolate using the microwave or a double boiler. Drizzle over the cookies.
