There's this amazing new cookie bakery an hour from my home. (I live in the middle of nowhere, so an hour is a pretty normal drive time for going places.) Their cookies are massive, ham-fisted, and loaded with unusual goodies. As hard as I try to stay away, they keep sucking me back in with a new rotation of flavors. BUT! As much as I love their newfangled goodness, sometimes there is nothing like an old-fashioned simple cookie, the kind Grandma used to make. This orange cookie is one of those, so easy, so simple, so GOOD.
What is it about this time of year that makes me crave oranges? Does anyone else crave orange things at Christmas? If so, is it because they're available this time of year? Because our bodies need the extra dose of Vitamin C? Or because we've been conditioned to eat them at Christmas? These are the kind of questions that keep me up at night. Inquiring minds! (see also: people who overthink absolutely everything.)
The only change I made to this recipe was to add a tiny sploosh of orange flavoring, both to the cookie and to the frosting, because I've found that things flavored with orange juice/zest alone aren't usually quite orangey enough. (Is orangey a word? I'll add it to my list of things to ponder tonight!)