ORANGE SHORTBREAD COOKIES
- 1 cup salted butter (softened)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 T finely grated, fresh orange peel (packed)
- 1 t vanilla
- 1/2 t orange juice
- 1/2 t butter flavoring
- 2 cups All-Purpose flour
In a medium bowl, beat together butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in orange zest, vanilla, orange juice, and butter flavoring. Add flour, then beat just until well blended. With a rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom to make sure everything is combined. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, for 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350º, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a 2" circular cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place them on parchment-lined cookie sheets until sheet is filled. You may have to re-roll the dough a couple of times and might have a little left over that you can bake later. Chill pan for 10 minutes. Bake cookies until light brown on bottom and just barely golden around edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
Icing
- 2 T orange juice
- 1 cup of powdered sugar
- zest of half an orange
- 2 T cream cheese (melted)
In a medium bowl, slowly whisk together orange juice into the powdered sugar. Add orange zest and cream cheese and beat until well combined. Once cookies are cooled, brush them with icing using a pastry brush. If you want a harder icing you will probably want to use more powdered sugar. Just start with more at the beginning and do it to taste.
