Baking with bright colors and flavors is a common occurrence in my kitchen. I especially love using citrus because it reminds me of sunny weather and always lifts my spirits. It’s my favorite kind of aromatherapy.
These cookies are charming in appearance, and they’re loaded with aromatic citrus zests. A coating of sanding sugar on the exterior gives them a sweet sparkle, and they’d be right at home at a fancy tea party.
Even though there are a few steps to making these cookies, they come together rather quickly. They can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator, then sliced and baked at your convenience.
To get started, mix up your cookie dough and make sure it’s not sticky. If there’s any stickiness, add flour a tablespoon at a time and mix well until consistency is achieved. You should be able to pick the dough up with your fingers without it sticking or smearing on your hands.
Gather the dough into a ball and divide evenly into thirds.
Return 1/3 of the dough to the mixer bowl and add the orange zest, orange flavoring, and red and yellow food coloring. Mix until well combined and a consistent orange color is achieved. Remove dough from bowl and set aside.
Wash the mixing bowl and add another 1/3 portion. Repeat process as before using the lemon zest, lemon flavoring and yellow food coloring. Leave the remaining 1/3 portion plain. Gather each portion into a ball and cover. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Roll each tinted portion into a baton approximately 5-inches long by 2 1/2-inches in diameter.
Roll flat the plain portion of dough on a lightly floured surface and wrap a portion around a flavored/tinted dough baton. Cut away excess plain dough; re-roll and wrap remaining dough baton.
Place the orange sanding sugar in a shallow dish and roll the orange flavored dough in it, making sure the surface is completely coated. Repeat process with yellow sanding sugar and lemon dough.
Wrap each dough roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.
Cut slices into rounds, and then make an impression in the rounds with the back of a knife to mimic the segments of citrus fruit. Cut rounds in half and place on a baking sheet.
The slices bake for only a short time: 6-8 minutes total.
Ingredients
-
-
1cup unsalted butter, softened
-
1cup sugar
-
1teaspoon vanilla
-
2eggs
-
3cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
-
Dash salt
-
Grated peel from 1 orange (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
-
1teaspoon orange extract
-
Yellow and red liquid food color
-
Grated peel from 2 lemons (2 to 3 teaspoons)
-
1teaspoon lemon extract
-
Orange and yellow sanding sugar
Directions
-
1In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs with electric stand mixer on medium-low speed or with electric hand mixer on lowest speed until well combined. Add flour and salt; beat until soft, nonsticky dough forms. (You should be able to handle the dough without it sticking to your fingers. If dough is sticky, beat in additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes to the correct consistency.)
-
2On work surface, shape dough into a ball. Divide into 3 equal portions. Return one-third of dough to bowl; beat in orange peel, orange extract and drops of yellow and red food color until orange color is consistent. Remove dough from bowl; cover with plastic wrap.
-
3Clean bowl; add another one-third portion of dough. Beat in lemon peel, lemon extract and drops of yellow food color until yellow color is consistent. Remove dough from bowl; cover with plastic wrap.
-
4Leave remaining one-third of dough plain; cover with plastic wrap.
-
5Refrigerate all dough portions 1 hour.
-
6Shape each portion of tinted dough into a roll about 5 inches long and 2 1/2 inches in diameter; set aside. On lightly floured work surface, roll plain dough into a rectangle. Place roll of orange dough on plain dough. Roll plain dough in a single layer around orange dough. Cut away excess dough; reserve for yellow dough.
-
7Place orange sanding sugar on plate; roll dough log in sugar until completely coated. Wrap sugar-coated dough log in plastic wrap; refrigerate. Repeat process with lemon dough, remaining plain dough and yellow sanding sugar. Refrigerate dough logs at least 4 hours.
-
8Heat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
-
9Cut chilled logs into 1/8- to 1/4-inch-thick rounds. With back edge of knife, score “segment” lines into each round, making only indentations (do not go all the way through). Cut rounds in half; place on cookie sheets.
-
10Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until set. Remove cookies from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely.
View Recipe Page