Recipe of the Month

I recently had these cookies for the first time while visiting my cousin in Idaho. She always finds the BEST recipes, and this is one I will make again and again. It’s easy, makes a lot of cookies, and for anyone who can’t have milk/dark chocolate, (I’m talking to you, daughter of mine!), it does NOT disappoint.

The recipe is courtesy of The Girl Who Ate Everything, and here’s the link: https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/creamsicle-cookies/

ORANGE CREAMSICLE COOKIES

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup 2 sticks butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

2 tablespoons orange zest (for me that was the zest of 2 oranges)

2 cups white chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg, vanilla and orange extract until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and white chocolate chips.
Drop rounded tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Do not overcook! Cookies will be plump.
Cool for several minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

NOTES: As with all recipes I make, I have a few tweaks/additions/suggestions:

Cream the butter & sugars on high speed for 3 minutes. I recently learned that this is the prime way to insure your cookies are light and fluffy.
Use as much orange zest as you want (I used more). In my opinion, you can’t have too much zest.
I couldn’t find orange extract at any of my grocery stores, so I ordered mine through Amazon.
Double the recipe. Trust me….just do it. They are SO good and perfect to make and freeze. Note…I made two separate batches, but next time I’m just going to throw all the doubled ingredients in together and go for it.