Description
These chocolate orange sandwich cookies are the ultimate holiday treat.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
for the cookies:
- 2 sticks salted butter, softened to room temperature
- Zest of 1 large orange
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar (90g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 cup flour (270g)
- Powdered sugar for garnishing
for the orange chocolate ganache:
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate, chopped
- 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- optional: small splash of grand marnier
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add the butter and orange zest. Beat for about 10 seconds at low speed just to combine the zest and softened butter together.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Beat for about 30 seconds at low-medium speed to incorporate until smooth, scrape the bottom if powdered sugar doesn’t incorporate fully. Note* Don’t overbeat together as we don’t want to incorporate too much air.
- Add the flour and mix on low speed at first, then bring up to medium. Dough will go from crumbly to cohesive. Again, don’t overbeat, just until the dough comes together.
- On a flat piece of parchment paper, place the dough and shape into a rectangle with your hands. Place another sheet of parchment on top and roll with a rolling pin to about ¼-½ inch thick. Place covered dough into the fridge, laying flat, for at least 30 minutes to an hour until the dough is firm. Note* Chilling the dough here is very important for ease of cutting out shapes and preventing spreading in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Remove dough from the fridge and peel off the parchment paper. Using cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. If cutting out holes, use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the middles of only half of the cookies. Note* If dough softens while lining sheet, place back into the fridge until solid again.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes at 350 F. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Add the milk to a microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup and heat in 15 second increments in the microwave until warm, about 45 seconds – we do not want the milk to boil! Add the heated milk to the bowl with the chocolate and let sit until the chocolate has melted. Stir gently to combine and until mixture is thick and spreadable. If too thin, add extra chocolate, if too thick, heat up a little more milk and add about a teaspoon at a time until spreadable. Add the orange zest, stir to combine. Let ganache cool completely.
- To assemble sandwich cookies, spoon a little of the ganache onto the cookies and spread into an even layer, sandwich with a cookie with a hole cut out. Garnish with powdered sugar if desired.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 15