Orange Spice Sugar Cookies
Here's a delicious adaptation of our Classic Just Date Sugar Cookies by Sylvie Charles, MD, submitted by Shane @sfeatsinsf to . These will become a classic in your family.
"My favorite holiday activity is baking sugar cookies, which is ironic because I find sugar cookies to be too sweet. I worked with the @enjoyjustdate to come with a #refinedsugarfree sugar cookie recipe that I could bake with Levi and I’m not exaggerating when I say these are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever had. Just Date's nutrient-dense organic date sugar is made from whole upcycled dates and nothing else. This is a sugar that has one gram of fiber per teaspoon and is also naturally packed with fiber, potassium, magnesium and antioxidants. Instead of sprinkles, Sylvie gave me the idea to blend some freeze dried strawberries which Levi helped me sprinkle on top."
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup organic Just Date Sugar
1 large egg, room temperature (put egg in warm but not boiling water for 5-10 minutes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour + additional 1/3 cup for rolling out dough
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
Zest of 1 orange
In a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer on low-medium speed (level 4), cream softened butter with date sugar until the mixture is nice and fluffy. Add the room-temperature egg, vanilla extract and the zest of 1 orange. Mix on medium-high speed until combined, about 30 seconds - 1 minute.
Sift 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, baking powder and nutmeg into a separate bowl. Add dry mixture into wet mixture in 3 separate portions, pulsing mixer 2-3 times after incorporating each portion. Use a spatula for the final mix and do not overmix.
Flatten dough onto plastic wrap in a disc until 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick. You can halve the dough and make two discs or even three. Chill in the freezer for 30-90 minutes.
When the dough has chilled sufficiently, preheat oven to 325F. Lay the dough onto parchment paper with a bit of flour sprinkled underneath and on top. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick - you can also just use your hands to press down to 1/4 inch thick. You may need to wait for the dough to warm up a bit, but not too much!
Cut with varied cookie cutters when still cold. Place on parchment on a baking sheet and sprinkle with ground up freeze dried raspberries and strawberries. Bake for 5 minutes and then rotate the sheet. Bake for another 5 minutes. The cookies should have a very very light golden edge - if they bake beyond this, they'll become more shortbread-like. If they don't have that light golden edge yet, bake further in 1-minute increments. Ours took 11 minutes altogether.
Let them cool on the sheet pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack. Sprinkle
Original by Sylvie Charles, MD. Adaptation submitted by Shane @sfeatsinsf