Description
Warm, citrusy, and just sweet enough for our romantic crew.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp of tartar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 to 2 tbsp fresh orange zest
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (or almond, if you prefer)
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 or 2 drops gel food coloring of your choice
- 1 tsp ginger, nutmeg, or cardamom
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with silicone baking mats or baking parchment.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, ginger, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar together until creamy.
- Add eggs and vanilla (or almond) extract. Beat until well combined.
- Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Add the dry ingredients. Beat slowly until roughly combined. Scrape the bowl down and beat again for a minute.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. Use just over a tablespoon for each cookie. Roll the dough balls in cinnamon-sugar topping. Sprinkle extra cinnamon-sugar on top if desired. Arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Make the topping: In a Ziploc bag, massage together the granulated sugar and gel food dye until sugar is evenly colored. Add the spice of your choice and whisk together. At TABLE Studios, we prepared three different colors of sugar, and used a different spice in each bowl.
- Roll cookie balls in colored sugar. If using more than one bowl of colored sugar, divide the balls evenly so that you have enough of each color.
- Bake sugar-rolled cookies for 10-15 minutes. They will still be ball-shaped. Press down on them with a metal spatula to flatten. Try one for doneness. Return to oven if they are still a bit damp.
- When cookies are done to your liking, remove from baking tray to a cool, dry countertop. Immediately take a generous pinch of colored sugar and rug it gently into the tops of the cookies for extra color and flavor.
- Eat when cool with a glass of milk or a cup of tea! Store them for several days in a tightly covered container.