The Best Orange Cookie From Mom’s Easy Recipe
These are my happy cookies! It’s something my Mom made all the time. A family favorite, they are sweet, delicious, citrusy cookies. They remind me of coming home from school to a fresh batch of cookies; my Mom seemed to bake something every day, which might be where I got my love of baking. This orange cookie recipe is so easy and requires very few ingredients. It truly is the best orange cookie recipe.
For more cookie recipes, try my The Best Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and my A Healthy, NO Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.
What You Need For The Recipe
The simple recipe has only a handful of ingredients:
- All-Purpose Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt comprise your dry ingredients.
- Vegetable Shortening (Crisco): My Mom often used vegetable shortening instead of butter. This might have been a remnant of the Depression Era/ WWII ingredient shortages and costs. This recipe doesn’t use any butter.
- Brown Sugar: The cookie batter uses only light brown sugar, which works well with the acidic flavor of the orange in the cookie.
- Large Egg: You will need two whole eggs.
- Sour Cream: The sour cream adds a bit of tang to the recipe.
- Fresh Orange Juice and Zest: The zest is where the orange flavor comes from, so add extra if you want a more intense orange taste.
- Confectioner’s Sugar: Powdered sugar is used in the glaze along with the juice of an additional orange.
Step-By-Step How-To Guide
- Step 1: Combine the shortening and sugar. Then, mix in the eggs one at a time. You can do this with an electric mixer or by hand.
- Step 2: Add the vanilla extract and the fresh orange zest to the mixture.
- Step 3: In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients one cup at a time, alternating with 1/3 of the sour cream.
- Step 5: Pour in the orange juice and mix until just combined.
- Step 6: Drop approximately one tablespoon (or a small cookie scoop) of orange cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In an oven preheated to 350°, bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and cool to room temperature on a wire rack before icing.
- Step 7: To make the glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar and orange juice in a small bowl until it is a thick but pourable consistency.
Tips For Success
Tip 1 — Use fresh oranges for the juice and zest. An orange extract could work, but the flavor is not the same. Fresh is more subtle.
Tip 2 — This recipe makes about four dozen or more cookies, so the best way to keep them fresh for a few days (other than eating them all) is in an airtight container. These cookies also freeze well and can be made ahead of time during the holidays or for a special occasion. When storing iced orange cookies, if you can’t keep them in a single layer, be sure to put parchment or wax paper between layers.
Tip 3 — When making the sweet orange glaze, don’t put all the confectioner’s sugar or fresh orange juice in at once. Save a little of each to help achieve the right consistency. You can also add a dash of orange zest to get a great orange flavor.
Delicious And Easy Orange Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- Zest of 2 oranges
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Orange Glaze
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- Approximately 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice
- Zest of 1 orange optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Combine the shortening and sugar. Then, mix in the eggs one at a time.
- Add the vanilla extract and the fresh orange zest to the mixture.
- Combine the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients one cup at a time, alternating with 1/3 of the sour cream.
- Pour in the orange juice and mix until just combined.
- Drop approximately one tablespoon (or a small cookie scoop) of orange cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before icing.
- To make the glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar and orange juice in a small bowl until it has a thick but pourable consistency. Glaze the cookies.
