Orange Spice Sugar Cookies
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This was such a fun post to put together. I was able to make these delicious orange spice sugar cookies and throw a party too. I think my mom zested for the very first time in her life. She really went crazy with it too. I shared her great big smile with her huge pile of zest on Facebook.
KitchenIQ was nice enough to send me several zesters for my party guests along with a potato peeler and the edge grip knife sharpener. The zesters have shields to cover the grated edge from snagging a finger while its hanging out in the drawer. It also has a measured container to catch all of the zest. It’s pretty darn awesome.
The potato tool comes with a brush to scrub the potato on one side, the peeler on the other side and a knife in the handle. It’s like the potato peeler version of a swiss army knife. This little peeler had my aunts attention. She wanted to take it home.
Last but not least, the edge grip knife sharpener. I was a bit skeptic, but it works like a charm or better even. It has an edge built into the actual design so you can hold it on the corner of a counter or table and sharpen your knives. It also can be used on a flat surface and it has a rubber bottom to prevent slipping. No one wants a newly sharpened knife slipping off a sharpener and sliced open a digit or any other part of the body. There are two slots in the sharpener. One says coarse which will quickly sharpen dull or damaged blades with a few swipes. Then there’s the fine slot that’s more for finishing and polishing the edge of the knife.
When you’re cutting a round log of frozen sugar cookie dough, it’s knife to have a newly sharpened knife. The dull knife kind of crumbles the cookies. I’m not going to lie, these cookies are full of butter. They get pretty darn hard in the freezer. Even with your sharp knife, you’re going to have to use some strength and pressure to get your cookies cut. It’s not too bad, but it’s always nice to have a heads up.
I didn’t get crazy with having my cookies perfectly iced with the orange royal icing. Maybe you can even tell there are a few air bubbles in the icing. I really, really love how they turned out and it didn’t take me 3 hours to decorate them. I let my icing dry overnight, but the icing didn’t harden completely. It still has a softness about it. The top does have a shell on it though. It’s the perfect royal icing, in my opinion. I’m a little bias though.
Orange Spiced Sugar Cookies
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Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 orange zest
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- 1 1/2 cups butter 3 sticks, room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Royal Icing
- 2 tablespoons meringue powder
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon corn syrup
- 4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange extract
- 2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 drop of orange gel paste color
Instructions
Cookies
- In a mixing bowl, add in the granulated sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove. Stir until combined.
- Add in the butter and mix on medium until just incorporated. To avoid the cookies from puffing up when being baked, you want to mix the dough as little as possible.
- Add in the orange extract, vanilla extract and egg. Mix until just combined.
- Add in all of the flour and mix until it comes together and forms a dough ball.
- Divide the dough into two balls. Roll the dough out into logs. Roll the logs into plastic wrap and place in the freezer overnight. Freezing the dough overnight, will allow the cookies to be sliced and will prevent the cookies from spreading when they're being baked.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice cookies and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 18 minutes or until the edges become golden brown.
- Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Place onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Icing
- In a mixing bowl, add in the meringue and water. Whisk together for 1 minute until the mixture becomes frothy.
- Add in the corn syrup, orange juice and orange extract. You can add less extract if you prefer. Whisk to incorporate.
- Add in the powdered sugar and whisk until it becomes a thick icing. Pull up and pour some of the icing back into the bowl. The perfect flooding icing will take about 14 - 16 seconds to completely smooth out. If it is much quicker, add more powdered sugar. I would start with 1/4 cup and go from there. If it's too thick, add another tablespoon of orange juice or water and test again.
- Set aside about 1/4 cup of white icing.
- Add in the drop of orange color to the remaining icing and mix.
- Pour into a disposable piping bag with a small round tip.
- Outline the cookie with the orange and flood. Use a toothpick to spread the icing around and poke any air bubbles.
- Using the whisk, flick the white icing over top of the orange icing while it's still wet. The white will sink in to the orange, but will look like a drizzle. If you want more control, add the white icing into a sandwich bag and cut a very small hole in the corner of the ball. Move your bag back and forth while using even pressure.
- Let dry overnight. Serve!
Notes
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)
I just wanted to share that I made these as cutout cookies and my family LOVED them! The spice level is perfect and that orange is everything! Thank you so much for sharing a cookie that isn’t super sweet, for a more adult palate, and is perfect for the holiday season.
I tried to make these cookies, but they came out flat, as they didn’t rise. After going over the recipe again I no T iced there was no leavening. The dough tasted great, I was very disappointed.
you are correct, there is no leavener in this recipe. However, when the butter and sugar are creamed together, lots of air is incorporated into the cookie dough which, in turn will help the cookies rise a little bit (the air bubbles expand in the hot oven and puff up the cookies a little bit). If you decide to make the batter again, be sure to beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy to get some extra air and extra natural leavener. I hope this helps!
These cookies have a wonderful flavor. It seemed that 1 T (tablespoon) of vanilla would be too much, so I revised it to 1 t (teaspoon) and it worked beautifully. Have not yet made the royal icing, but will make the same adjustment in orange extract as 1 T seems a bit much.
Can you make these into rolled cutout cookies?
Hi Colleen- you can make these cookies into a rolled cutout cookie! Chill the dough after mixing then roll it out on a well floured surface. Roll the dough to about 1/4 of an inch thick and it should work great! Enjoy.
I roll between to 3/8″ thickness between two silpats (no extra flour), put the cookies on sheet trays and freeze them solid in my standing freezer (about 30mins). Bake as directed and they are FANTASTIC!
These cookies are so pretty – I love the orange color! I bet they’re so easy to make since they’re slice and bake, too. Orange zest adds such great flavor to baked goods!
Thank you! They are incredibly easy!