I love to bake cookies. And when I have free time, I usually make cookie dough to freeze so whenever we have surprise guests, I have warm cookies freshly baked out of the oven. Today, I prepared a small batch of spritz cookies, which I flavored with cocoa and orange to match the season. These "gâteaux" (cookies in French) were made with brown sugar, so once they’re baked, the house is filled with the scent of delicious chocolate-y caramel.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, baby Aria’s eating habits are very similar to my husband’s. She loves sweets. She finished almost half the batch this afternoon before the girls even got back home from school. Naughty girl!
1. Info for Chocolate and Orange Spritz Cookies
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 12
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Chocolate and Orange Spritz Cookies
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, tightly packed
- 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure orange extract
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
3. Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- For the dry ingredients: Combine the flour and salt. In a bowl, place the powdered sugar. Sift all the dry ingredients, separately.
- For the spritz cookie dough: Cream the butter with ⅓ cup powdered sugar. In another bowl, whisk the egg with the remaining powdered sugar until the color becomes pale yellow. Add vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the creamed butter. Mix until smooth, then add the flour. Mix until a soft, pliable, sandy cookie dough is formed. Do NOT over-mix. Transfer the dough back into a bowl.
- Separate ⅓ of the cookie dough; add cocoa powder and mix until evenly distributed.
- To the remaining dough, add the orange extract and mix well.
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Fill a pastry bag with the orange-flavored cookie dough. Using a star-shaped decorating tip, pipe 12 (2½" x 3½") tight "snakes". Fill another pastry bag with the cocoa dough, then pipe and complete the design of the cookies by pressing on each side.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes. The cookies should be firm but not too golden brown. Let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
