These orange cookies taste fantastic, with the flavor of fresh oranges! Orange Sugar cookies are so one of my newest favorites.
Some days just suck. They suck, I tell you, like a vacuum. A few days ago, I hit a new low when I was kind of excited to purchase a used vacuum. It’s not that I can’t afford a new one, but I just really hate spending money on a vacuum. I did consider buying new. I even did extensive research on different brands. (And, by extensive research, I of course mean that I spent 15 minutes looking through reviews on Amazon.) I ended up deciding the brand I already had was the one I wanted to keep.
I found what appeared to be a decent used one locally, and it was even kind of an upgrade because it’s the commercial version, and obviously newer than my 14-year-old dinosaur. The seller had some clearly out-of-control dogs and white carpet and kept asking me questions about my old vacuum. Which model is it? What’s wrong with it? Is the motor burned out? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s fourteen years old, isn’t that reason enough?
So I left with the vacuum, and did some quick clean up at home. It was a few days before I could get down to the serious vacuuming, and today was the day. I was motivated by the piles of baking soda that were soaking up the dog pee in my hallway. I was a little worried that the dog would go back and pee in the same spot again.
Of course, while vacuuming my sons room, I found a blanket with, you guessed it, dog pee on it. {Me: Is this dog pee? Son: Yes. Me: Did you know this was here? Son: Yes. Me: And you didn’t tell me? Son: Oh. Sorry.}
I was also motivated by the popcorn crumbs and candy wrappers that covered the family room floor, thanks to a late night party the teenage boys had last night. {Me: Is that room ready to be vacuumed? Boys: Yes, mom! It’s totally ready!} I spent 10 minutes picking up stuff around the room before I could vacuum.
I was almost done vacuuming the very last room, when smoke started pouring out of the new/used machine. This is the point at which I walked away from the stupid, piece of crap, (insert string of expletives) vacuum and walked to the kitchen. Because I really needed cookies.
And Diet Dr. Pepper.
I had oranges in my fridge, so I whipped up some orange sugar cookies in between disciplining the dog and yelling at the children. {Kids: Can we have a cookie? Me: Did you do the dishes yet?} I was actually a little surprised at how subtle the orange flavor was in this cookie. I figured I better give it an extra punch, and I made a little orange icing to drizzle over the top. It was perfect, just the right amount of sweetness and orange flavor without being overpowering. They were pretty easy to make, too, and didn’t require chilling, which is good when you are *ahem* in a mood and really just cannot wait for the cookie dough to chill.
I bet these would taste amazing frozen. But I’ll never know, they’ll be gone by tomorrow morning!
My husband deserves a whole plate of Orange Sugar Cookies for putting up with my complaining and for fixing the vacuum. These cookies were a comforting bright spot in a day that sucked like a vacuum.
Well, not MY vacuum.
If you’re giving these as a gift, you might like a printable cookie gift tag to go with them.
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1¾ cup sugar (+ more for rolling)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- juice from half an orange (about 3-4 T.)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 3 cups flour
- juice from one orange
- powdered sugar
- For Cookies:
- Cream butter and sugar for a few minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, vanilla, and orange juice, and mix well.
- Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Roll dough into balls, and coat in sugar. Place on baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
- Immediately drop baking sheet on the counter two or three times to allow cookies to deflate and flatten. Remove to a cooling rack.
- For Icing:
- Combine juice and powdered sugar, adding sugar a little at a time until it reaches a good consistency for drizzling. Drizzle icing over cooled cookies.
If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:
Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies from Jen’s Favorite Cookies
Raspberry Filled Butter Cookies from Tidy Mom
Orange Ricotta Cookies with Dark Chocolate from Two Peas & Their Pod
Orange Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Oh, crap. What an awful day. Did you call the person who sold you the vacuum? If it’s any consoluation, the cookies are gorgeous!
Hi Jen,
Your orange sugar cookies looks so fresh. 🙂
I don’t mind eat this every day. LOL.
Thank you for sharing. 🙂
You can submit your orange sugar cookies. pics on http://www.foodporn.net It is a food (and drink of course) photography site where members can submit all food (and drink of course (again) LOL ) pictures that make readers hungry.
Well, you know it’s fun to make others hungry (and thirsty)! 😀
Oh dear! That sounds like a pretty awful day – glad you were able to cheer yourself up with these cookies.
I like the idea of adding orange icing to them – lovely!
I hate vacuum cleaners. We’ve bought expensive ones, cheap ones – the whole gamut. None of them are any good. The only decent one we ever had was one of those build-in jobs we had in a house we rented for a year. Those are terrific! But we’re talking $$$$. We’re lucky in that we like hardwood floors, and that’s what we have now in the entire house 9save the odd carpet here and there) so floor cleaning is a breeze. Anyway, enough about vacuums! Great cookie recipe. Sugar cookies are under appreciated, and I like orange in almost anything. And Dr. Pepper is one fine soft drink. Entertaining post – thanks.
I hate vacuuming. However, if these cookies were the reward, I might vacuum a little more often 🙂
LOL – We are dealing with vacuum woes this week too! I enjoyed your post and can’t wait to try these cookies. I love orange in anything so these look extra fabulous to me!
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I really want to try making these. How much powdered sugar do you use for the icing?
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Jen,
Thanks for giving me the link to include in my upcoming Band Fruit Fundraiser Recipe Round Up! It will be published on 12/4/2013!
These cookies are absolutely delicious! The only change I made was to add the zest of one orange, since you said it only had a hint of orange. They had a wonderful orange flavor and didn’t need the glaze on top because my husband and thought that would make them too sweet. These are a keeper! I’ll definitely make them again! (it isn’t letting me give 5 stars, only four, but this is a five star recipe!)
Can you use cookie cutters with this recipe. Making Christmas cookies. And rolling.
Could I add cardamom to these? If so how much? Im making these for Christmas they look so good!