Melt In Your Mouth Italian Iced Orange Cookies

Delicious Italian iced orange cookies that melt in your mouth with every bite. They’re perfectly sweet and have hints of fresh orange juice and zest in every bite.

My friend Angie makes the best Italian cookies during the holiday season, it’s a recipe passed down from her Nonna and they’re unbelievable. They’re soft, puffy and small Italian cookies with three different colors and a simple icing. The trick? Extra flour, just the right amount of sugar and real deal butter.

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Truth be told, I never liked Italian cookies until I tried the ones she made and year after year I would tell Angie that I needed her to make her Nonna’s cookies for me. They’ve officially inspired today’s recipe. Thanks Ang, I love you and think about you often.

I had originally made these glorious orange cookies last year and couldn’t stop eating them. They were soft (just like Angie’s Nonna’s), fluffy, and almost melted in your mouth like those lofthouse style ones from the store. Finally, I’m sharing the recipe with you and if you adore orange as much as I do, I know you’ll love these too.

One of the things I love about these cookies is that they’re so easy to make. Yeah, yeah I realize it’s regular flour, butter and sugar, but that’s the way these Italian cookies roll, mkay?

The dough is infused with real fresh orange juice and orange zest. It’s so good, you’ll think that you’re eating a dreamsicle. Bake them up and then glaze them with a perfectly sweet orange icing. I love these with a cup of coffee and I can’t wait to see you make them.

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5.0 from 2 reviews

Melt In Your Mouth Italian Iced Orange Cookies

 

Author: Monique of AmbitiousKitchen.com

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 14 cookies

• Serving size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 148

• Fat: 6.4g
• Saturated fat: 3.9g
• Carbohydrates: 21.7g
• Sugar: 11.9g
• Fiber: 0.4g
• Protein: 1.9g

Recipe type: Dessert, Cookies

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  25 mins

Print

Delicious Italian iced orange cookies that literally melt in your mouth. They're perfectly sweet and have hints of orange juice and zest in every bite.

Ingredients

• Wet Ingredients
• 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice (or from the carton works too)
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• Dry Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• For the icing
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 tablespoon softened cream cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 1 minutes until well combined. Turn mixer to medium-low speed and add in egg (make sure it’s at room temp -- you can do this by running the egg under warm water for 1 min); beating until well combined, smooth and creamy into the butter and sugar. Next beat in the orange juice, zest and almond extract for about 30 more seconds.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and mix together on medium speed until combined.
4. Drop about one heaping tablespoon full of dough onto prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. You should end up with 14-16 cookies. Bake for 10-13 minutes until just barely golden brown on the edges. Remove and allow to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
5. To make the icing: Once cookies have cooled, make the icing: add the powdered sugar, orange juice, zest, melted butter and softened cream cheese to a bowl. A drop of almond extract is also delicious in the icing, but please only do one drop if you'd like. Dip the top of the cookies in the icing then place back on the wire rack to allow icing to harden. Garnish with a little extra orange zest to make them pretty. Makes about 14-16 cookies.

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