Orange Cinnamon Cookies

I am on a cookie roll at the moment. It is one of those food items that can be dressed up or down, made as fancy as you want it to be or kept at it's simplistic best!! That for me, is the defining character of a recipe - the versatility. It moulds itself in its makers design.

This recipe uses the basic cookie recipe I have blogged about earlier but a different flavour combination. I give you the Orange Cinnamon Cookie. The measures given below will typically make about 30 cookies but it all depends on how big or small you wish your cookies to be. 
Another thing to remember is that I use a fan-forced oven, so you will need to adjust your baking temperature accordingly. 

Ingredients - 
225 g - Softened Unsalted butter
200 g - Caster Sugar* 
Grated rind of 1 Orange
4 tsp - Orange Juice
280 g - Plain Flour**
2 tsp - Ground Cinnamon
Salt to taste

Method - 
Preheat oven to 190 degrees C or 180, if using a fan forced oven.
Combine butter, 140 g of the sugar and orange rind in a bowl. Cream it well. 
Add 2 tsp of Orange juice. Mix to incorporate the juice.
Add the flour and salt and combine so as to form a dough. Shape the dough into a log.
Wrap it in plastic wrap or baking paper and refrigerate for 20-30 min.
Roll out the dough into a 30 cm/12 inch square. 
Brush the square with the remaining orange juice. Sprinkle the remaining sugar and the ground cinnamon evenly over the dough square.
Gently roll the dough like a swiss roll. Wrap it once more and refrigerate for a further 20-30 min.

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Unwrap the roll and with a sharp knife cut the roll into 1 cm discs. Place them about an inch apart.
Bake for 10-12 min or till the cookies look light golden. remove from oven and let cool for 5 min. The cookies will be a bit soft at this stage.
Transfer the cookies carefully to a wire rack and let cool completely. 
Once cooled store them in an airtight container.
Enjoy these cookies with your favourite cuppa!!

Note -
*Granulated sugar can be used as long as it gets mixed well with the butter. Also to make this recipe Diabetic friendly, use a sugar substitute like 'Stevia'. I have tried these with Stevia and I found I needed about 75 g of Stevia. 
**You can use wheat flour instead of plain flour, the texture however will be a bit different in terms of the crispiness.

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This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Apricot Pecan Cookies

There is something heart warming, very inviting, about baking aromas wafting through the house. Especially on cold and wet days! Well today is just that kind of day - cold, wet and miserable. 

You see, I really love baking and so transforming a miserable day into an enjoyable one is sometimes as easy as mix, bake, cool and bliss!! I must admit, I have days when nothing helps to make my day better. That is life though and makes you treasure the good times.

Anyway, here is one of my 'go-to' cookie recipe. A cup of your favourite beverage and a couple of these cookies is sure to lift your spirits and transform your day!!

The Ingredients -
Unsalted Butter(softened) - 225g
Caster Sugar* - 140g
Vanilla Essence - 2tsp
Plain flour** - 280g
Grated rind of 1 orange
Dried Apricots, chopped - 55g
Pecans, finely chopped - 100g
Salt - 1tsp or as per taste

Method -

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
Cream the softened butter and sugar using a wooden spoon/spatula. To this, add the salt and mix well.
Next, add the Vanilla and orange rind and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well so as to incorporate all the flour.
At this stage, I use my hands. So wash hands thoroughly and start mixing the cookie mixture so as to form a pliable dough.
Shape the dough into a log and wrap it in plastic film or baking paper.
Refrigerate for 15 to 20 mins.

After about 20 mins, remove the wrapping and cut the log into 1 cm discs. The apricot gives these cookies a very appealing marble look!!
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Arrange the discs 2-3 cm apart.
Bake for 12-15 min or till the cookies turn light golden. At this stage the cookies will still be a bit soft.
Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, transfer cookies to an air tight container.
The measures given here make around 30 cookies, depending on how thick a log you roll.
These should stay fresh for a good week, if they have not been gobbled up already!!
Typically in my house, these are gone in a couple days.
Enjoy!!

Notes -
* Caster sugar can be replaced with regular granulated sugar. Only cream it well with the butter so that it is properly dissolved. Alternately you could powder the granulated sugar in a mixer grinder and use that.
**Plain flour can be replaced in part with wheat flour to make these cookies healthier.



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This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.