These cookies activate a very nostalgic part of my brain. My mom had two signature cookies growing up - her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (which I will publish on here one day but I have not figured out her magic touch!) which were a regular occurrence, and then these orange chocolate cookies, which were a bit more of a rare find. She isn’t sure the origin of these cookies, it’s likely a recipe passed on to her from a friend. The aroma of the orange with the slight touch of clove brings back so many great memories for me. I love these for fall and winter with their slight touch of clove. Perfect with a cup of tea on a cool day!
A few tips for these cookies:
Cream together the butter and sugar until super fluffy
You want the mixture to look almost white before adding in the egg!
Be patient once you add in the egg
You are forcing quite a bit of liquid into fat (the butter) so it takes time for it to whip together; patience at this stage will lead to wonderfully fluffy cookies. If you have a stand mixer this is pretty straightforward as it’s hands-off but you want to whip until all the liquid is incorporated into the butter and you have a homogenous, light, extremely fluffy mixture.
Don’t over mix once you add in the flour
To ensure you don’t end up with a “tough cookie”, mix until just combined for steps 5 and 6. You could always mix by hand at this stage if you feel like your mixer might lead to over mixing (I just use the lowest setting on my stand mixer).
Drop the cookies vs shaping them
These were originally called chocolate orange drops, because instead of shaping the dough you literally just scoop with a spoon and drop onto the sheet. This gives them an imperfect shape that leads to great texture - little scraggly bits get crispy while the inside of the cookie remains soft and fluffy.
Orange Chocolate Cookies
15 minute prep time, 12 minute bake time
Yield ~2 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
½ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar, well packed
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (or you can do half whole wheat!)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp ground cloves
Zest of 1 orange
¼ cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange)
1 cup chocolate chips
Method:
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (if you have 2 sheets you can prep two and bake at the same time!)
Cream together butter and brown sugar with either a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or hand mixer on medium-high for 2-3 minutes until it lightens in colour.
Beat in 1 egg for 3-4 minutes (or longer!) - you are looking for the egg to be fully incorporated and the mixture to be light in colour. Should look extra fluffy!
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and clove - whisk together until well combined.
Add flour mixture to butter/egg/sugar mixture, beating on low until just combined.
Add in orange zest, orange juice and chocolate chips, mix until just combined.
Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet 1 inch apart - should be about 1.5 tbsp in size (they are smaller cookies). You will likely need two cookie sheets, so you can either do this in rounds or bake two at the same time, swapping their position in the oven halfway through.
Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes until starting to turn golden brown. Let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a rack.