Cookie of the Week: Orange Poppyseed Snickerdoodles

I had a different recipe in mind to make this week but knew it wasn’t one my oldest son would enjoy.  My husband and two youngest are heading to visit him this week and I wanted to send him some of my home baked love, so I opted for this creation instead.  I have the perfect snickerdoodle recipe, but I wanted to see if I could altar the flavors of a snickerdoodle.  I am a big fan of citrus flavored baked goods so I thought up these Orange Poppyseed Snickerdoodles and I have to tell you they are AMAZING!  I hope my son likes them!

The texture of these is delectable.  Do you like that word?  Delectable I tell you!  They are light and crispy on the outside with the crunch of the orange sugar, and soft and chewy inside.  In my opinion, that is the perfect texture for a drop cookie!…. {recipe after the break}

They aren’t hard to make.  You basically make a snickerdoodle dough and then roll balls of dough in orange sugar.  You make the orange sugar by putting the zest of 1/2 and orange in your food processor with 1/2 cup sugar.

Here are a few pictures for you:

Orange Sugar

Roll your ball of dough in the sugar.  I use a 1 ounce cookie scoop to get them all exactly the same size.


Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.  They spread quite a bit so only do 8 per sheet.  I first did 12 and they all ran into each other.


Here is the proper 8 per sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Your home will be filled with a heavenly orange aroma.  They will be golden around the edges and cracked on top.  Let them cool for about 10 minutes, if you can wait that long.

Orange Poppyseed Snickerdoodles

Yield: 28 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup butter flavor Crisco (regular is fine, too)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice concentrate, thawed
• zest of 1 1/2 large oranges

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.
2. In bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, Crisco, 1 cup of white sugar, and the brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, orange juice concentrate, vanilla, and almond extract.  Whip until fluffy.  Add the poopyseeds and mix to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt with a wire whisk.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to combine.  Be sure to scrape down the bowl.  Add the zest of 1 large orange and stir to combine.
5. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup sugar and the zest of half of a large orange.  Pulse to combine.  Dump this mixture into a shallow bowl.
6. Using a one ounce cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons) scoop balls of dough, drop them into your hand and roll into a ball lightly.  Then roll them in the orange sugar.
7. Place on baking sheet at least 2 inches apart.  They will spread so don’t overcrowd the pan.  I would say 8 on a pan if you don’t want them to touch, 12 is ok if you don’t mind them running into each other.  Bake for 10 minutes until edges are golden brown and tops are cracked.
8. Remove from oven.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.