italian dessert recipes




Orange Cookies




"Fresh and EASY!"




orange cookies These orange cookies came to me "by accident". I was making my anisette cookies and I had a divine revelation. OK, I really didn't. But I thought, "What the heck, lemme experiment with orange zest and fresh squeezed orange juice. And WOW - I looooooove these.

Now, don't panic because of the anise. It's very very very slight and YOU DON'T have to use it. We use it tons in Italian cookie recipes. But, you're the cook. You're in charge. Yes! The kitchen is one of the places I get my way. (Ok I get my way a lot - but I don't let my family think I do.)

These orange cookies is wonderfully fresh - IF you actually squeeze your orange juice. BUT don't panic. There many substitutions and ideas you can check those out below.

These are one of those one bowl easy to make cookies. So if your hurting your brain for a last minute idea - here you go!

Thanks for visiting my site. It's a heck of a lot of fun for me to actually write it and feel like I'm touching the world and not just isolated in my kitchen. Come back often. You can book mark my "What's New" page. It shows the recipes I add every few weeks.

Orange Cookies

YIELD: 3 dozen cookies - I have halved this!

Ingredients:

* 1 cup butter, softened

* 3/4 cups sugar

* 1/4 teaspoon anise extract ( TOTALLY OPTIONAL!)

* 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice.

* 3 cups flour

* 3 teaspoons baking powder

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1 egg

Glaze Ingredients:

* 1 cup powdered sugar

* milk

* 2 teaspoons of orange zest

Procedure

 * Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

* Beat together butter and sugar until creamy.

* Stir in anise and orange juice

* Add dry ingredients - blend together.

* Add eggs. Blend.

* Form dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

* Bake for 12-15 minutes.

* Cool and glaze.








What substitute works for the anise?

You don't have to use it! It's just an Italian cookie thing, part of our heritage. Instead of swapping it out. I'd just leave it out.


Curious as to what anise is?

It's a spice. It's grown on a big feathery tall plant. I've always said it has flavor like black licorice. (Which I happen to LOVE!)


Can I use orange extract for the fresh orange juice?

You probably could. BUT how hard is it to find an orange?!?!? There really is nothing like FRESH! If you have to use orange extract - then I'd say only use 1 tsp. And again, I'm not real well versed on orange extract - so lean towards your own expertise!




Thank you for reading down this far. I hope you try a couple of these Italian dessert recipes. I love to cook and share my recipes. And yeah, after several months I now have enough visitors come here and I actually get paid for writing about what I love.

Back to the top of the orange cookies.







Lisa Gianotti Superbowl Sunday is coming up! The best Italian Dessert Recipes for a party like this are ones that are:

FAST

Finger Foodish (not big hunky sticky globs of gooey-ness that get on your furniture)

And freeze-aheads

A couple of my favs for this are Cappucino Cookies (lots like choc chips but with a twist)

Anisette Cookies (Always on the top 5)

Rum Balls (Gingersnaps and Rum)

Let's not for get the drinks to go with the beer that will be present! Check out my Italian drinks section for that.

Lisa


Would you like to share this page? You know how to do it! Thanks for sharing the sugar love!



Recipes on this site are from family cookbooks, family traditions, or intentional adaptations from traditional recipes to add an Italian flair. If a recipe was adapted or used from another cook - it is mentioned on the recipe page and the recipe author is given credit.