Hi friends! Today I’m wrapping up my cookie series, for now, with one of my favs: Chocolate Orange Cookies. This was inspired by the chocolate orange that was still hiding in my pantry after having gotten it for Christmas, as I do every year. Apparently this is pretty common, at least in the US? If you’ve never had one, they’re basically a ball of chocolate, flavored with and shaped like and orange, that you whack on the counter (or floor, on Christmas morning) to break into wedges to eat.
I based this off of my fav cookie recipe, shared in this post, and added some chocolate orange and candied orange peel and it was everything I hoped it would be! J LOVES these chocolate oranges, he ordered a dozen of them last year online when we couldn’t find any in stores, and he loved these cookies almost as much.
You can absolutely just use regular chocolate if you don’t have a leftover chocolate orange, but you’ll definitely want to add the orange zest, and maybe a drop or two of orange extract if you’ve got that handy.
And, some notes on those candied orange peel: this recipe scales up and down really well, so feel free to double or triple it so you have extra! Also, after you remove the orange peels from the sugar solution, don’t throw that out! Thin it out a bit with some water and you have a great orange simple syrup for cocktails and other desserts!
Chocolate Orange Cookies
Ingredients
- 220 g softened butter
- 150 g sugar
- 165 g brown sugar
- 1 t vanilla
- 2 eggs
- zest of 1 orange, optional
- 330 g flour
- 5 g baking soda
- 6 g salt
- 1 chocolate orange, or 150 g chocolate, chopped
- 1 batch of candied orange peel, recipe below, chopped
How to do it
- preheat oven to 375*
- in a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. set aside
- in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes
- add eggs, one at a time, until fully combined
- add vanilla and orange zest
- slowly add flour mixture until just combined, do not over mix
- fold in chocolate and candied orange
- scoop into balls and bake for 8-10 minutes, until just set
Candied Orange Peel
Ingredients
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups water
How to do it
- prepare the final drying place for the candied peel by placing parchment paper underneath a cooling rack. set aside
- using a vegetable peeler, remove the orange part of the peel from the orange, leaving behind as much of the white pith as possible
- using a knife, gently scrape any pith from the orange peel, then slice into ~1/8th inch strips
- combine the sliced peel with 1 cup of water and boil for 15 minutes
- drain the peels, then add the remaining water and sugar to the pot. heat over medium high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves
- reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally. after 50 minutes, start checking the temperature of the sugar mixture. once the temperature is 250*, quickly remove the peel from the sugar mix and place on prepared cooling rack
- cover the peels loosely with a cloth or plastic wrap and let dry overnight
- store in an airtight container