Orange Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips

It's been a long while, isn't it? I baked these cookies a pretty long while ago for my friends. But I never get around posting them. 😡

Besides mint and chocolate, another perfect match to me is orange and chocolate, especially with dark chocolate. And I absolutely love these cookies.

This recipe comes from 500 Cookies ~The Only Cookie Compendium You'll Ever Need~. I really like this cookbook! My peanut butter cookies, meringue cookies (beacon hill cookies), chewy chocolate cookies and cinnamon cookies all come from this book. The recipe inside this cookbook is relatively simple and I simply love the different variations that I can have with a single batch of cookies. Another thing I love about the recipes in this book is that they don't make a freaking huge batch of cookies, only around 2 dozen plus plus, which means lesser baking time for me as I only have a small oven. And sometimes, to cut a recipe can be troublesome, hence the recipes inside this book is really suitable. 😀

The recipe originally features white chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate chips, but with dark chocolate chips on hand, I substituted the white chocolate chips with them, plus I like dark chocolate chips more anyway. :p I still cut the sugar (which I'm glad I did!) and baked them to soft cookies.

The orange zest really does the job, there's no need to add orange essence or anything, hence it's really fantastic as it's TRUE and PURE orange flavour. I didn't roll the cookies into balls, instead I just scoop them using tablespoons. But if you want to go hands-on, by all means go ahead! I'm just feeling lazy at that time. :p

These treats smell really good and taste good as well. The orange did not over-power the chocolate in the cookies, so it's really a good combination. I'll definitely be baking these soft cookies again! 😀

Orange Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips (makes 2 dozen)
(adapted from 500 Cookies by Philippa Vanstone)

4 oz unsalted butter
5 oz caster sugar
1 egg
Grated zest of 1 orange (2 to 3 tsp)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
7 oz plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
8 oz dark chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Beat the butter on low for 30 seconds then increase to medium and gradually add in sugar and beat till creamy, total 6 minutes. Beat in egg, orange zest and vanilla essence.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients and chocolate chips into the butter mixture and combine.

Scoop the batter by tablespoonfuls (or roll into balls and flatten) onto a non-stick baking sheet 5 centimetres (2 inches) apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool for five minutes on baking sheet then transfer the cookies onto a rack to cool completely.

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to four to five days.