The last couple of days before Christmas are my favorite. It’s the time when I can get away to my happy place, be creative and just bake. The soothing fragrance of chocolate mixed with warm winter spices fills me with peace and content.

I love holiday baking, even when I don’t have as much time as I would have wanted to. Instead of stressing out, I choose simple and very basic recipes that I just pimp up a bit and try to make my own. Shortbread cookies are just perfect for that.

The inspiration for these chocolate cookies came from my favorite shortbread recipe. I wanted to make a cookie with a deep chocolate flavor so I adapted the recipe by replacing some of the flour with powdered cocoa. I also added some chocolate chips to the dough to get that rich chocolatey flavor I’ve been craving so badly.

Because chocolate and orange are an epic combination, I decided to add candied orange peel to the cookies. I love how the fresh zing of oranges contrasts the richnes of dark chocolate. These cookies are really, really good. And the best part is that they’re super easy and very quick to make.

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Chocolate Orange Cookies

Yields 45 cookies
Prep time: 20min + chilling time
Cook time: 15min
Total time: 35min
Difficulty: Basic

Category: Cookies

With these cookies, it’s very important that you don’t overbake them. They can become bitter and the candied orange peel will become quite hard. So, keep an eye on them while they’re in the oven. While hot, the cookies are still a bit soft and can fall apart between your fingers. Once they cool down, they will firm up.

Ingredients

250g flour
50g cocoa powder
230g butter, at room temperature
120g powdered sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (or orange juice)
1/4 teaspoon salt
50g candied orange peel, chopped
30g dark chocolate chips

Directions

Combine flour and cocoa powder. Set aside. Cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add salt, Grand Marnier and orange zest. Mix in candied peel and chocolate chips. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. Gather into a ball and divide the dough in half. Roll each part of the dough into a log about 3cm in diameter. Wrap each log firmly into plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into disks about 6mm thick. Transfer disks to baking sheets leaving enough space between each disk because the cookies will spread during baking. Bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. While hot, the cookies are still a bit soft and can fall apart between your fingers. Once they cool down they firm up.
Transfer the cookies to an airtight container. They can be stored for 3 weeks.

Author: Monika Topolko

 

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