Easy and Delicious Cookies Sound Good Right About Now, Don’t They?
It is definitely the cookie time of year in my house. I don’t bake a lot of cookies, but come Christmas season, baking cookies becomes the norm. I bake my rugelach and a few other favorites every year, but I also love to try out a few new recipes.
This year I knew I wanted to bake meltaways – those small tender yet crisp cookies that really do melt on your tongue. But I also knew I wanted something more than the standard citrus meltaway that’s covered in powdered sugar. Nothing wrong with that cookie, it just wasn’t what I had in mind. I wanted them to be less sweet, and contain interesting flavors, a more grown up type of cookie.
I went with orange for the citrusy end of flavor, dried cranberries for both their tart and sweet sharpness, and cacao nibs * for their texture and complex bitter flavor. This trio of flavors works really well together.
Once again, I used my favorite Fiori di Sicilia, that gorgeous blend of citrus and vanilla, for flavoring. I also added a little additional vanilla. A heads up on the Fiori di Sicilia: I don’t recommend any other brand besides King Arthur’s. I’ve tried 2 other brands now and neither even came close to King Arthur’s. They’re pale versions. I order it online from King Arthur. If you don’t have it and aren’t in the mood to purchase it, I recommend substituting orange oil and doubling up on the amount of vanilla. It won’t be exactly the same, but it will still be good.
This is an easy dough to make. Besides all-purpose flour, cornstarch and powdered sugar go into the mix and give the cookies their distinct meltaway texture. All the ingredients go into the food processor and are blended until they clump together. Then the dough is dumped onto plastic wrap and formed into a 10 inch log. At that point I plop it into the freezer for at least 2 hours. I make it the night before so that all I have to do is slice and bake the next day.
You have a choice as to how you’d like to finish off the cookies. You can roll the log in the finishing sugar of your choice and then slice them. Or you can slice them first and sprinkle the tops with finishing sugar. I chose to use Swedish pearl sugar * and rolled half the log in the sugar and sprinkled the other half with the sugar after they were sliced. It’s up to you.
The type of sugar is also up to you. In the past, I’ve used sparkling sugar, raw sugar, and even granulated sugar on these types of cookies and I’ve been pleased with all of them. Whatever you’re in the mood for is the way to go.
These only bake for 11 minutes, and they cool quickly, so you won’t be waiting around for a long time once you decided to bake them.
These would be a great addition to a cookie swap because they don’t suffer at all from being made in advance. They’re as good a few days later as they are on the day they’re made, so being able to bake them in advance is a plus.
I love this kind of cookie. As I said, it’s not too sweet, it’s richly flavored with butter, while having the heady aroma of orange and vanilla. Those bits of dried cranberry are wonderfully bright and the cacao nibs provide just enough crunch. And the small size is perfect for nibbling. What more can I say? Cookie season is a joy.
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Orange, Cranberry, and Cacao Nib Meltaways
40 cookies
servingsOrange zest, dried cranberries, and cocoa nibs are pulsed in the food processor, along with all the other ingredients, for these easy meltaway cookies. Roll the dough into a log, chill in the freezer for a couple of hours, slice, bake, and serve!
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Ingredients
57 grams (1/2 cup) powdered sugar
120 grams (1 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
56 grams (1/2 cup) cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
5 grams (1 tablespoon) finely grated orange rind/zest from 1 large orange
30 grams (scant 1/4 cup) cacao nibs *
170 grams (6 ounces/1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, cold and cut into 12 slices
50 grams (heaping 1/3 cup) dried and sweetened cranberries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract if using Fiori di Sicilia, if using orange oil, use 1 full teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia or orange oil
Swedish pearl sugar * or any other finishing sugar
Directions
- To the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, add the powdered sugar, flour, cornstarch, salt, and orange zest. Pulse about 5 times, until you can hardly see the orange zest. Add the cacao nibs * and pulse twice. Add the butter, cranberries, vanilla extract and either Fiori di Sicilia or orange oil. Pulse until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed and the dough holds together when you press a ball of it in your hand.
- Form the dough into a rough 10 inch log on a piece of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic over the dough and roll the covered dough into a smooth 10 inch log and seal. Wrap in foil and freeze for at least 2 hours (I always let it freeze overnight).
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 half sheet pans (13 x 18 inches) with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and either roll it in the finishing sugar or sprinkle the sugar on top of each slice. Cut into 1/4 inch slices with a sharp knife. You will have 40 slices. Arrange 20 slices on each sheet pan. I prefer to bake these one sheet at a time. Put one pan of sliced cookies in the refrigerator while the other one bakes. Bake for 11 minutes or until edges of cookies are just beginning to turn golden, turning the sheet pan from front to back at the halfway point of baking. Let the cookies completely cool in the pans. These will store beautifully in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of weeks, but I can’t imagine them lasting that long. Enjoy!