I tend to get in a cookie rut during the holidays. I make sugar cookies and thumbprints but never really venture out of my cooking making box.
Yet when I saw the orange-pecan cookies in the most recent edition of vegetarian times, I knew I want to make them. I also knew I wanted to update the to be more like those chocolate covered oranges that make an appearance around the holidays.
So instead of an orange glaze, I dunked the cookies in chocolate. I also swapped out the white flour for whole wheat (which I thought added an extra nuttiness to the cookie.)
I packaged my cookies off and sent them out! The cookie swap was a lot of fun and it was great coming home to find cookies waiting for me!
The cookies I got:
Delicious Macarons from Carly.
Italian Chocolate Almond Cookies from Joanne
All these cookies are keeping me fueled as I pack the house and get ready to move!
- ½ cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp orange zest
- ¼ t salt
- ½ cup pecans, grounded
- 1¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- Chocolate:
- 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- Pecan pieces for topping
- Preheat oven to 350˚.
- In a medium bowl combine the salt, flour, and ground pecans. Set aside.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer cream the butter and sugar. Scrape down the sides and beat in the egg. Finally, add in the flour mixture and continue to beat until dough comes together.
- Roll out dough onto a floured surface. Roll out dough to a 3/8″ thickness and using a square cookie cutter. (you can also form dough into a log, wrap in plastic, and flatten the sides down to form a square log. Chill for two hours or over night and then remove and slice 3/8″ thick.)
- Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms are browned. Remove and let cool.
- In a double boiler over low heat, combine chocolate and heavy cream. Let melt carefully, stirring often. Remove from heat and carefully dip each cookie into chocolate mixture. Sprinkle with pecan pieces and set aside and let chocolate harden.
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