Festive Cookie Season

The festive season is alllllll about the cookies, right?  These cookies need to make your holiday baking menu! Orange and chocolate is a classic flavor combination that makes many of reminisce on this time of year. The base of the cookie is a crisp, citrusy bite of an orange sugar cookie. A sugar cookie recipe that has been passed down in my family for generations, but with the addition of lots of orange zest to make these extra special. After dipping these in chocolate with a bit of sea salt, these sugar cookies have a grown-up, glow-up perfect for a holiday cookie tray. 

Tips For Making These Orange Sugar Cookies with Dark Chocolate

If you plan on making these chocolate orange sugar cookies, here are a few tips to sure you’re successful:

• If you don’t have a circular cookie cutter, use the top of a glass instead!  I tend to do this more than worry about having the right size cookie cutter (which may speak more to my collection of glassware than anything). If you do want to purchase the cutters, I love these ones on Amazon that come with their own container (affiliate link).
• This cookie dough is amazingly durable. Feel free to roll and reroll as many times as you need, just be sure to reflour between each roll to avoid sticking. This dough also freezes and refrigerates very well. Make a large batch and save half for a future day.
• Don’t rush adding the flaky sea salt to the top of the chocolate. If the chocolate is still a little warm, the salt will melt right in and you won’t be able to see it. While it will still taste wonderful, the salt looks like decorative sprinkles!

Recipe Details

These chocolate orange sugar cookies taste so impressive, but are surprisingly easy to put together!  The base of this recipe is my Mom’s Sugar Cookie recipe, which is the cookie recipe I grew up making with my mom every holiday. This recipe is as simple as mixing the ingredients in order, rolling, cutting, and baking.

To begin, you’ll cream together room temperature butter with sugar. Don’t be afraid to let your mixer run for a few minutes. The longer you allow the butter and sugar to cream, the better incorporated they will be, making for an even tastier cookie. To this, you’ll add in the eggs, followed by the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. The cream of tartar is what makes these sugar cookies so reliable, it keeps the dough stable and easily rolled out again and again. Lastly, you’ll mix in some milk, for extra creaminess, plus vanilla extract and orange zest for flavor. Stir this in until just combined and then wrap and store the dough to let the butter set back up slightly before you bake it.

Once your dough is slightly chilled, roll them out onto a floured surface and cut using a circular cookie cutter, which ever size you prefer. I think these are perfect as a 2 bite cookie! Bake the cookies on a lined baking tray for 10-12 minutes, they pretty reliably bake at 11 minutes for me. Let them cool on the tray for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

While the cookies cool, melt some dark chocolate in the microwave. I recommend doing a version of tempering chocolate, where you melt about ⅔ of the chocolate to begin, running it in the microwave for 30 second increments, stirring between each one, until it’s very smooth. Add in the remaining dark chocolate chips and stir them in to melt. By quickly cooling the chocolate with the unmelted chocolate, it will give the chocolate a nice shiny appearance on the cookie and a tasty snap.

Dip half of each cookie into the chocolate and set on parchment or wax paper to set. Once the chocolate has set for a couple minutes, sprinkle each with a small amount of flaky salt to taste and then let them set completely.

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or wrap well and freeze for up to 2 months.

If you like the sound of this recipe, you should also check out these festive sweets:

• Mom’s Sugar Cookies
• Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
• Homemade Chocolate Fudge

Be sure to tag @laura.loves.to.cook on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook to let me know how your recipes turn out. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Print Recipe

0 Add to Favorites

Christmas

Chocolate Dipped Orange Sugar Cookies

Author: Laura Wilkins Cooking Method: Baked Cuisine: American Courses: Cookies

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 30 mins Cook Time 10 mins Rest Time 20 mins Total Time 1 hr

Cooking Temp: 350  °F Servings: 48

Best Season: Winter

Dietary:

N Nut Free V Vegetarian

Description

A crisp sugar cookie that’s been scented with orange peel and then dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt. These cookies are the perfect balance of sweet, salt, and citrus, you definitely won’t be able to eat just one.

Ingredients

Scale

1/2x 1x 2x 3x

Orange Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 ³⁄₄ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 navel orange

Chocolate for Dipping

• 1 ¹⁄₂ cup dark chocolate chips
• Flaky sea salt, to taste

Instructions

Make the Orange Sugar Cookies

1. In the bowl of a stand-mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until combined and creamy, about 4 minutes.

2. Add the eggs to the bowl and mix until evenly combined

3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar until fully incorporated and no clumps of flour are visible. 

4. Stir in the milk, vanilla extract, and orange zest, using your hands to bring the dough together in the end.  Wrap the dough into two large disks, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the butter to firm up slightly.

5. While your dough chills, preheat your oven to 350° F and line two baking trays with  parchment paper or a silpat liner.

6. Sprinkle flour over a work surface and place one disk of dough in the center.  Dust flour over a rolling pin and roll the cookie dough to about ¼-½ inch thick.  Usea round cookie cutter to cut out circles of the dough and place on the baking tray.  Re-roll the dough and repeat the same process until all of the dough is used (don’t worry, this dough is very hard to overwork).

7. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until just golden around the bottom.  Let the cookies cool on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dip the Cookies in Chocolate

1. While the cookies cool, melt ⅔ of the chocolate chips in a microwave. Run the microwave for 30 second increments and stir between each until melted and very smooth.

2. Add the remaining chocolate chips to the melted ones and stir to incorporate in, letting them slowly melt in. This is a simple way to temper the chocolate and will give your chocolate a nice texture once they’re dipped.

3. Dip one half of the cooled orange sugar cookies into the chocolate and set onto a piece of parchment or wax paper. Once the chocolate has set slightly, about 2-3 minutes, sprinkle each cookie with some flaky sea salt to taste.

4. Let the chocolate set completely and enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Enjoy!