Name: Orange and Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 9 min
Total time: 39 min
Ingredients: 1 cup light brown sugar (packed); 1 cup butter (salted); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 Tbsp fresh orange juice; 1½ Tbsp orange zest (finely grated); 1 egg; 2 tsp baking powder; 3 cups flour (all purpose); 1 pkg dark chocolate melting wafers (10 oz); 2 Tbsp orange zest (roughly grated); ¼ cup sea salt

How’s your April going, bakers? Mine is just about 100% the same as my last post- I might even still be wearing the same clothes, who knows? When it’s quarantine and we’re all off our schedules, there are no rules! I’ve been busy baking up a storm and I think my family is about to burst from all the treats, but I’m not about to stop anytime soon. Having an enjoyable diversion is crucial during this never-ending Groundhog Day, or so I keep telling myself! Also crucial is using what you’ve got in your kitchen so that you don’t have to go the store more often than you need to- and that’s how these cookies came about. Let’s use what we’ve got to make something delicious!

Like I mentioned, these cookies don’t require anything special to make. It’s my basic sugar cookie recipe, fancied up and infused with fresh orange. Dark chocolate and orange is one of my favorite combinations ever. There’s something about how the citrus and the chocolate come together that is just so perfectly sweet. Add in a little sea salt over the tops to balance that sweetness and you’re knocking on Cookie Heaven’s door, guaranteed. Heaven won’t wait- let’s get started! And because Quarantine has us all a little crazy, let’s make all the steps parts of fun songs!

STEP ONE: I’VE GOT MY ORANGE CRUSH

There’s just a few things you’ll want to grab at the store while you’re picking up your toilet paper and milk. The first is a couple nice looking navel oranges. You’ll need about 3 if you just want some basic orange flavor, or 4 oranges if you want to kick up the taste (I always use 4). You’ll be using different parts of the oranges for different things, but start this cookie adventure by zesting your oranges. If you’ve never zested anything before, have no fear- it simply means that you’ll be grating the outside peel of your oranges off and collecting the bits. Most graters have small holes and large holes so you can control the size of your output. Zest half your oranges with the small holes (we’ll use this in our cookie dough) and half the oranges with the larger holes (we’ll use this to garnish the tops later). Set your zests aside for now. Cut the oranges in half and squeeze the juice out of them. You’ll want at least 2 Tbsp, which works out to 1/8th of a cup. Set this aside for a moment as well.

STEP TWO: INFUSE IT (INFUSE IT GOOD!)

Now it’s time to bake the cookies. As I mentioned in the lead-in, this is a riff on the basic sugar cookie recipe that I use when making a sugar cookie for decoration. But we’re going to adjust a few things a bit and add in the finely grated orange zest and the fresh orange juice. You can use orange extract if you have it, but I think fresh juice tastes so much better and you’ve already got the oranges in front of you; so why not use them? Roll the dough out to about 1/3″ inch thick on a floured surface and cut with whatever shape you fancy. I like the rounded shape because it’s easy to dip half into chocolate later, but you can use and dip whatever makes your heart happy! Like always, place the shapes on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and refrigerate the sheet for ten minutes while your oven preheats to 350, and then bake until the edges are just starting to turn golden- about 9 minutes.

STEP THREE: I’LL STOP THE WORLD AND MELT WITH YOU

Transfer your baked cookies to a rack to cool. While they rest, you can prepare your chocolate. Because I’m a baker, I have those neat melting chocolate wafers in my house most of the time and they’re really handy for this step. The Ghiradelli dark chocolate wafers are my favorite and are usually stocked in the grocery stores near me. If you don’t have any available, you can use melted dark chocolate chips, the process is the same. Melt your wafers or chips in the microwave at 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring with a silicone spatula between each interval. While the wafers are formulated to melt easily, if you’re using chocolate chips you’ll want to pay attention so that your chocolate doesn’t seize- don’t overheat! Whatever you use, your chocolate is ready when it’s smooth and glossy.

STEP FOUR: WHEN I DIP YOU DIP WE DIP

Finally, it’s time to get dipping! Prepare your space by flattening a large sheet of parchment paper on your counter so that your dipped cookies will have somewhere to harden, and grab your roughly grated orange zest from step one. Also prep a small bowl of sea salt for sprinkling. Now, holding your cookie firmly, dip it halfway into the melted chocolate. If your bowl isn’t deep enough to dip your cookie in a direct downward motion, dip it as far as you can and then move the cookie toward the side of the bowl so that the chocolate pushes up the front of the cookie as you go. Any chocolate that gets on the back is fine (or better than fine, I like mine as chocolate-y as possible!). Wave the cookie back and forth over the chocolate bowl a few times to shake off the excess and then carefully lay the cookie flat on parchment paper. Sprinkle some of the zest onto the chocolate and then some sea salt on top, and move onto the next cookie. Continue until you run out of chocolate or cookies!