{"id":561,"date":"2021-03-22T19:06:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T19:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/?p=561"},"modified":"2022-12-14T14:31:31","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T14:31:31","slug":"italian-orange-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heritagecookies.net\/index.php\/2021\/03\/22\/italian-orange-cookies\/","title":{"rendered":"ITALIAN ORANGE COOKIES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Italy has a fascinating cookie tradition that is broad, deep, and very distinct from the rest of Europe. That\u2019s particularly true for the citrus cookie genus. North and central European countries tend to make a buttery shortbread or sugar cookie base, which they\u2019ll kick up with a sharply flavored glaze. The Lemon-Lime Cookies<\/em> from HERITAGE COOKIES OF THE OLD AND NEW WORLD<\/em> are a perfect example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italians tend to make their cookies vastly more puffy by adding copious amounts of baking powder, with thinner and often optional icings, and a lot of orange or lemon zest in the dough. Many recipes reinforce the zest with some citrus oil or extract. But that\u2019s not all. There\u2019s also a very different philosophy when it comes to the fat. Shortbreads and sugar cookies are built on butter, but Italian cookies will often play around with that aspect. The Ricotta Cookies<\/em> in our book use butter, but lighten everything up with cheese to create a unique experience. Lemon Drops a\/k\/a Lemon Knots a\/k\/a Anginetti<\/em> use liquid oil. This recipe uses shortening, or in older versions, lard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butter is wonderful stuff. Extraordinary stuff. There\u2019s a reason why simple butter cookies like French Sabl\u00e9s<\/em>, American Meltaways<\/em>, Middle Eastern Ghorayeba<\/em>, and the ubiquitous Spritz Cookies fill bakery and market shelves alike. They\u2019re good<\/em>. Nor will we deny that butter and citrus marry extremely well. They do. But the offspring of butter and citrus tends to be a pleasing, 50\/50 combination of the two. Neutral fats like shortening or oil are the way to go if you want a purified hit of citrus essence (or of chocolate for that matter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Italian Orange Cookies<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTES ON THE RECIPE:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no surprising technique required to make this cookie. It hardly takes any attention if you have the basics down. (1) Whisk or sift together the dry ingredients to evenly distribute the baking powder. (2) Cream together the shortening\/lard, sugar, orange zest, and extract(s) so the fat can absorb the citrus and vanilla flavors. (3) Add in the eggs, taking care to go one at a time in order to create an emulsion. (4) Thin with some fresh orange juice from the one you zested, which is slightly unusual. And then (5) mix in the dry ingredients, taking care to avoid a flour eruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only odd ingredients are the sheer quantity of eggs (three of them, when most recipes will use just one) and baking powder (a whopping tablespoon of baking powder where most recipes would use just a half-teaspoon).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the only odd decoration part is the very common use of half a maraschino cherry to create a \u201cRudolph\u2019s Nose\u201d effect like you see with Amaretti (a macaroon rather than a drop cookie). We were tempted to ignore that cherry in favor of an orange glaze (see the photo below), but it turned out to be a nice touch. Maraschino cherries add nothing to an ice cream sundae beyond a neon-red flash of color, but their almond-laced flavor makes a real difference on this scale. They create an odd counterpoint that actually enhances the orange flavor rather than competing with it.<\/p>\n\n\n

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(1) Rolled in sugar with a cherry on top, (2) With an orange glaze, and (3) Cherry on top coated with orange glaze. All three are delicious, so choose the one that you like best. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the end we decided to leave the decorations in the recipe as an option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n