Orange Macadamia Cookies

Happy Friday! If you're planning to bake up something wonderful for father's day, I've got a new recipe to share. I made these earlier in the summer during a baking day with my friend Sarah, and I shared them with the family. My dad was over the moon about them, so consider these father tested and approved!

The recipe is originally from Better Homes and Gardens' The Ultimate Cookie Book, and its definitely a keeper.




Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cornstarch
1 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (or toasted walnuts if you'd prefer)
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice

Orange Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons softened butter
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1-2 tablespoons orange juice, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combined flour, powdered sugar, and cornstarch. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts.

In a smaller bowl, combine the egg yolk, orange zest, and orange juice. Add this mixture to the dry mixture and stir until moistened. Knead the dough until it forms a ball. Now you can shape 1 1/4-inch dough balls and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Flatten cookies until 1/4 inch thick, or until they look the way you want them. (We forgot to flatten our cookies, womp womp. They ended up looking a bit like cookie balls. Still delicious, so we didn't mind.)

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are set. Let cool on a wire rack for a bit before frosting. Frost with orange icing (recipe below) and sprinkle with some chopped macadamia nuts if you'd like a little more crunch.

And now, to make one of the best frostings I've ever tasted. It actually turned out as more of a glaze than a frosting when we made it, but we preferred it that way.

Orange Frosting: 

Mix together the powdered sugar, butter, and orange zest until blended, then add in the orange juice to taste. We added in a little more orange juice and powdered than the recipe called for, but it still turned out great!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! Happy baking! And if you're looking for new blogs to browse, check out Saturday Snapshot over at At Home With Books!