Alright, so I decided to try making some orange sugar cookies the other day. Had a recipe, looked simple enough, figured why not give it a shot. Always looking for something new to bake when I’ve got a bit of time.
Getting Started – The Ingredients
First things first, I got all my stuff out on the counter. You know the drill:
- Flour
- Sugar (the white granulated kind)
- Butter, gotta let that soften up a bit
- An egg
- Baking powder and salt
- And the main event: oranges. Needed zest and a bit of juice.
Had everything, which is always a good start. Nothing worse than getting halfway through and realizing you’re out of something crucial.
Mixing It All Up
So, I grabbed my big mixing bowl. Dumped the softened butter and the sugar in there. Got the electric mixer going and creamed them together until it looked kinda fluffy. Took a few minutes.
Then, cracked the egg in, added the orange zest – smells amazing when you start grating that stuff – and a splash of the orange juice. Mixed that all together again. Looked a bit curdled for a second, but it came together.
In a separate bowl, I whisked the flour, baking powder, and salt. Just gave it a quick mix with a fork. Then, I gradually added this dry stuff to the wet butter-sugar mix, keeping the mixer on low speed. Didn’t want flour flying everywhere. Mixed it just until it formed a dough. Don’t overmix it, that’s key for sugar cookies, keeps ’em tender.
Chilling the Dough
The recipe said to chill the dough. So, I scraped it all out of the bowl, formed it into a couple of flat disks, wrapped ’em in plastic wrap, and stuck them in the fridge. Let them sit there for about an hour. Makes the dough easier to handle later, less sticky.
Rolling and Baking Time
After the chill time, I took one disk out. Floured my countertop a little, floured the rolling pin too. Rolled that sucker out. Aimed for maybe a quarter-inch thick, something like that. It behaved pretty well, wasn’t too sticky thanks to the chilling.
Used some basic round cookie cutters and cut out as many shapes as I could. Placed them onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Gathered the scraps, re-rolled, cut more. Did the same with the second disk of dough.
Got the oven preheated while I was cutting. Around 375°F (that’s about 190°C). Popped the first sheet in. The recipe said something like 8-10 minutes. I just watched them. Pulled them out when the edges started looking slightly golden brown. You don’t want them too dark.
Cooling and The Final Product
Let them sit on the baking sheet for a minute or two before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. The kitchen smelled fantastic, really orangey and sweet.
Once they were cool, I tasted one. Pretty good! Nice subtle orange flavor, not too overpowering. The texture was right, crisp edges, slightly softer center. Just a simple, decent sugar cookie with a nice citrus twist.
Didn’t bother with any fancy icing this time, just left them plain. They were good as is. Made quite a few, enough to share around. Yeah, overall, a successful bake. Pretty straightforward process, and the result was tasty. Worth doing again sometime.
