Very recently I was bemoaning the fact that I don’t make enough cookies. My mother had called and, as can be expected, we were discussing treats and snacks. She’s been making a chocolate chocolate cookie weekly for nearly a year now and wondered why I wasn’t baking more myself. The frightening truth is that I’m baking more than ever, but with so much time spent on new recipes, I hardly ever get back around to baking some of my old standbys.
Case in point: I have not made chocolate chip cookies since I moved into my new apartment.
This is unacceptable.
The holidays are good for many things, chief among them Tradition. I’m taking a break from tweaking my fruitcake to bake up a platter of wintery favorites. I use this dough to make both Orange Spice Cookies and a simple Sugar Cookie (iced, of course). With the wind blowing outside (and a modern absence of fireplaces indoors), I like to welcome guests with a nibble and a sweet scent in the air.
For all that is holy this year, bake some cookies.
Happy Holidays darlings, eat up.
Orange Spice Cookies and Lemon Iced Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- ½ cup Brown Rice Flour
- ⅓ cup Potato Starch
- ⅓ cup White Rice Flour
- ⅓ cup Millet Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ tsp Xanthan Gum
To half the dough, add:
- 1 teaspoon Molasses
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves
- Zest of one Orange
And roll those in:
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
Process
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using an electric hand mixer and a separate bowl), cream the Spectrum Organic Shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla, stir until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stir to combine.
- Remove half the dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. This wrapped dough will be used for the sugar cookies.
- To the remaining dough, add the molasses and spices, stir until dough is dark brown.
- Pinch off small balls of dough, roll them in your hands then toss them in a bowl of cinnamon and sugar. Press these balls onto a cookie sheet.
- Bake the spice cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until just brown around the edges.
- Remove from the oven, let cool and eat.
- Take the sugar cookie dough out of the refrigerator.
- Toss flour on your work surface (to keep the dough from sticking) and roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
- Using your favorite cookie cutter (or a menagerie) cut out cookies and place them on a cookie sheet.
- Bake sugar cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until just brown around the edges.
- Remove from the oven, let cool while you make lemon frosting.
Lemon Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- Juice of one Lemon
Process
- Whisk ingredients together until glossy and thick.
- Dip cookies in frosting, let set on rack.