Blood Orange Sugar Cookies

Simple sugar cookies make a perfect afternoon treat. They seem to compliment everything, from coffee to ice cream. (Well, everything important, anyways.) This recipe is a slight twist on the traditional, adding the flavor of a blood orange to the cookie. The cookies are delicate and more crispy than chewy. I like to make these fairly small - I prefer large cookies for more hearty-flavored varieties, like cowboy cookies.

I had hoped the bright pink orange juice would lend some color to the cookies, but it did not. You could use whatever kind of orange you like here, but be sure it is a sweet, good-tasting orange. I like cara caras best.  You could also do a lemon or lime variation on the cookie.

These cookies disappeared fast - they are hard to resist!

Blood Orange Sugar Cookies
Really, you can use any variety of orange you like here. But blood oranges would be perfect for themed parties (twilight, true blood, nosferatu...no judgment). 
Yield: about 3 dozen small cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Zest of one orange
3 tbsp fresh-squeezed orange juice
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups white-whole wheat or all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpats, and set aside.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients, except flour, until well blended.
3. Stir in flour until just blended.
4. Drop about 2 tsp of dough 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges begin to turn golden brown. Cool for a minute or two on the cookie sheet before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Like what you read? Subscribe to the feed in your favorite feed reader, or follow me on Twitter to keep up with new posts!