Chocolate orange cookies
- Preparation 15 min
- Cooking 10 to 12 min
- Servings 16
- Freezing Absolutely
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🧡 Orange chocolate is my favourite chocolate
Always has been. So the day I spent baking cookie after cookie for the site, trying one version after another, making one with orange chocolate was a no-brainer. And these chocolate orange cookies turned out ridiculous. Ridiculously good, I mean. They’re gone before the sheet has even cooled down.
🔪 Hand-chopped Lindt orange chocolate and a splash of orange liqueur
The orange comes in two ways. First, 2 tablespoons of orange liqueur beaten into the dough with the egg and vanilla. Then a bar of Lindt orange chocolate, one of my favourite chocolates, roughly chopped with a knife. Most of it gets folded into the dough. The rest goes on top of the balls and melts into glossy pools in the oven.
Do they taste strongly of orange? No. It’s just enough. You get the orange, but it’s a chocolate cookie first. Skipping the alcohol? Non-alcoholic orange liqueur takes its place, same amount.
🎄 Soft centres for lunchboxes, weeknights and the Christmas cookie tray
Crisp edges, soft middle. My kids go crazy for them, my friends too. Fifteen minutes of prep, about ten in the oven. They end up in lunchboxes, rescue a Tuesday night, and every December they earn a spot on the holiday cookie tray, right next to my chocolate mint cookies. Pour a glass of milk or a coffee and you’re set.
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🧈 Softened butter, never melted
Softened means your finger sinks in without effort but the cube still holds its shape. Butter zapped in the microwave until it’s liquid gives you cookies that spread like pancakes. Then the butter, white sugar, brown sugar and salt get a full 3 minutes with the electric mixer. It should turn pale and fluffy. That air is where the soft centre comes from, so don’t cut it short.
🍊 2 tbsp of orange liqueur is the right amount
The orange flavour is just enough as written. Don’t pour in extra to “taste it more”: a wetter dough is likely to spread more in the oven.
No alcohol? Use non-alcoholic orange liqueur, same amount. That’s my first suggestion.
🔪 A Lindt orange chocolate bar, chopped by hand
A cutting board, a good knife, about thirty strikes. Not in the food processor, or you end up with chocolate dust that vanishes into the dough. Chocolate chips are often mediocre quality; with a bar you pick your chocolate, and it makes better cookies. Keep 50 g aside for the tops. Those are the pieces that make the puddles.
🫓 Flatten by half, 5 cm (2 in) between balls
Otherwise they bake into each other and you pull one giant cookie off the sheet.
⏱️ Pull the sheet when the centre looks underdone
This is where it all happens, and it feels wrong. After 10 to 12 minutes the edges are just starting to turn golden and the middle is still soft, almost shiny. Take them out anyway. They’re very soft coming out of the oven and firm up as they cool on the sheet, for at least 15 minutes.
Leave them in until they look set and they’ll be hard once cool. Want them crisp all the way through? Then yes, give them a minute or two more.
📅 Make ahead
No overnight dough in the fridge for these. I like it when they spread, otherwise they’re a little too thick. What you can do ahead: flour, baking soda and baking powder measured together, chocolate chopped in a jar, butter out of the fridge a few hours early. The only dough that sees the fridge is the second sheet, while the first one bakes.
The real time saver is baking them ahead. They keep 3 to 4 days on the counter in an airtight container, and once cooled, 3 months in the freezer. Let them thaw at room temperature.
✅ What to serve with my chocolate orange cookies?
A cold glass of milk or a coffee. For a cookie tray people talk about, bring out the whole crew from that same baking day: my chocolate chip cookies, my chocolate mint cookies, my double chocolate sea salt cookies and my white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.
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Ingredients
- ½ cup (115 g / 4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and softened
- ½ cup (100 g / 3.5 oz) white sugar
- ½ cup (100 g / 3.5 oz) dark brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) orange liqueur (or non-alcoholic orange liqueur)
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1⅓ cups (165 g / 5.8 oz) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp (2.5 ml) baking soda
- ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) baking powder
- 200 g (7 oz) Lindt orange chocolate, roughly chopped (about 30 knife strikes)
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Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat with electric mixer the softened butter, white sugar, brown sugar and salt until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, orange liqueur and vanilla and beat until just combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder, then mix on low speed until no flour streaks remain. Fold in 150g of the chopped chocolate with a spatula.
- Divide into 16 balls and place on the baking sheets spacing them at least 2 inches apart, then flatten each ball by about half. Distribute the remaining chocolate on top of the cookies.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges start to be golden and the center is still soft. For soft cookies, don’t exceed the baking time. They will harden as they cool. Keep the other baking sheet in the fridge during this time.
- Let cool at least 15 minutes on the baking sheet before devouring. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cream softened butter with white sugar, brown sugar and salt for 3 minutes, then beat in an egg, 2 tbsp of orange liqueur and vanilla. Mix in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, fold in most of a chopped Lindt orange chocolate bar, and shape 16 balls. Flatten them by half, scatter the rest of the chocolate on top and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 10 to 12 minutes, pulling them while the centres still look soft.
Honestly, it’s my favourite combo. Orange chocolate is my favourite chocolate, period. The orange brightens the chocolate and keeps a rich cookie from feeling heavy. In this recipe it stays in the background, just enough that you notice it, while the chocolate still leads.
Non-alcoholic orange liqueur, same amount: 2 tbsp (30 ml). That’s the swap I recommend. The dough keeps the same texture, and the Lindt orange chocolate backs up the orange flavour.
You can, the texture will be the same. Just know that with plain chips, all the orange flavour has to come from the liqueur, so the cookies taste less orangey. I stick with a Lindt orange chocolate bar chopped by hand. It’s the one I buy for myself, and uneven chunks melt into much better puddles.
Three to four days on the counter in an airtight container. For longer, freeze them once baked and completely cooled: they keep for 3 months. Thaw at room temperature. A box in the freezer means lunchbox dessert is handled for the week.
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