Orange Shortbread Tart Cookies

Shortbread cookies are immensely special things. You and I and everyone who has ever tasted sugar and butter baked together into a dessert-like concoction knows that. But let’s be honest with one another, bakers: sometimes shortbread can be a bit high maintenance. Like I said, it’s special, and it deserves to be treated in a prima donna kind of way.

But then sometimes you have to live your life and get on with things in the kitchen. Sometimes you don’t have the time to wait for the dough to chill and cut the dough out in amusing shapes (exception: Valentine’s Day. Every cookie must be heart-shaped. See the Double Cherry Cookie Sandwiches for a good example, and YES you should bake them now, even though Valentine’s Day is so not even on the near horizon). So- when you are feeling a little on the “get on with it” side, press your shortbread dough into little tart pans, bake them, and they’ll look special even if you don’t pipe chocolate on top (like I did in the photo attached, because I was feeling particularly ambitious/neurotic). Yes, you’ll still have to chill the dough, but that’s just the cost of making something so great. If it was that easy, you’d be making shortbread all the time.

(And other than the whole “globesity” thing, a shortbread overdose isn’t such a bad thing.)

Oh- as for the orange and chocolate theme… you know who you are if you love it. This one’s for you. The orange is very subtle in this recipe, but sometimes it’s the understated desserts that get you in the end. Like Angel Food Cake, or the Hazelnut Meringue Puffs.)

Adapted from my Classic Shortbread Cookie recipe…

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon orange zest, finely grated

1 tablespoon orange flavored liqueur (like Grand Marnier) OR 1 teaspoon orange extract

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional, for decorative glaze on top of cookies)
1. Sift flour and salt together in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter with a stand mixer (or hand-held mixer) until light (2 – 3 minutes), then add sugars and orange zest and beat for additional 2 – 3 minutes (scraping sides of bowl a couple of times throughout). Add orange liqueur if using. Add flour & salt combo and mix on low speed until dough is just incorporated together into a ball.
2. Pat dough into 12 mini-tart pans (almost to top edges of pans, so about 3/4″ thick), and chill until very firm (at least an hour). [If you want to make less tart pans (because who has 12 mini ones?), take the remaining dough and press into a flat disc and wrap with plastic wrap. Roll dough out to just under 1/2 inch thick (you might need dough to ‘warm up’ a bit to do this), and use a cookie cutter to cut out your desired shapes. Chill until cookie shapes are firm before baking.]
3. Preheat oven to 325°, and bake shortbread until firm to the touch and turning golden brown (about 20 – 25 minutes for mini-tart pans and 15 minutes for cookies rolled out to 1/2″ thick). Cool on a wire rack and indulge.
4. Optional chocolate glaze: Melt chocolate chips in microwave for 30 seconds, stirring until melted and smooth. Pour into a small piping bag (or Ziploc bag with tiny bit of corner cut off) and squeeze in a decorative way over tops of cooled cookies. Allow to set (in fridge if speed is of the essence) before packing or freezing.
Tips:
- Want an orange glaze instead? Ooh, what a good idea. Stir up ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar with a teeny bit of OJ, or Grand Marnier. Voila. (If you want to go crazy, use ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar with ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, then add the OJ. Truly chocolate-orange, through and through.)
- Orange zest: It really needs to be finely grated, so ideally use a microplane (a fancy kitchen tool that’s unbeatable for grating garlic, zest, ginger, etc.). If you’re not all fancified, just use a zester. Only use the orange part of the zest, never the white stuff. Unless you like bitter orange shortbread cookies.
- Freeze-friendly: Absolutely. Just wrap really well, and thaw in the fridge or counter as long as you can before cracking into the cookies. You might just eat a few bites from frozen, because they are that irresistible.
- More shortbread tips- check out the original post…
- Like orange and chocolate? Try the Fudgy Orange Brownie Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing. There’s no turning back.
- Enjoy!
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April 13th, 2013 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Cookies