Orange Mint Shortbread Cookies
Jackie, our Assistant Manager and Baker here, lives in Crowley and grows lots of plants and herbs in her garden. She brought in some Orange Mint the other day, which I had never seen before.
I know it's mint season - as it's growing wild all over my yard. But, Orange Mint was something I had never heard of. It's basically a little lighter, citrus mint. She asked me to make something with it, but I had no clue what to do. Jackie said she googled Orange Mint recipes and all she got was cocktails, haha. So, I thought about it for a few couple days while it sat wilting in our mini fridge. Then she brought me another bunch in this adorable blue mason jar. That's when I decided to make Orange Mint Shortbread Cookies. These are light, buttery, crisp and taste of sweet orange flavor, which is perfect for summer. They also have a very subtle mint flavor which goes really well with this orange butter cookie. These cookies surprised us all in a good way. They are SO GOOD!
Orange Mint Shortbread
Makes 16
1 stick (113 grams) organic salted butter, softened
71 grams (1/2 cup) organic powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoon organic orange flavor (like Frontier Co-Op)
1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
191 grams (1 1/2 cups) organic all purpose flour
6 to 8 Orange Mint Leaves
Organic cane sugar for dusting
Method Finely chop the Orange Mint Leaves, or you can use regular mint as well.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, orange flavor and vanilla extract. Mix on low until it is combined, you will still see chunks of butter at this stage and that is fine, do not over mix.
Add the flour and mint leaves to the butter mixture and mix on low. This will seem like it’s not coming together, but mix until it almost does.
On a piece of plastic wrap dump out the dough and shape it into a log. It should start to come together more the more you shape it. The log should be a rectangle that is about 6 x 2 x 2 inches. Wrap it completely in plastic wrap. You can even shape it more and a little better once it’s completely wrapped, especially make the sides smooth by forming it after it’s wrapped. Place the log in the fridge overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Trim off the edges and slice the dough log into about 16 cookies that are about 1/4 inch thick. Place on prepared cookie sheets about 1-inch apart.
Bake for 13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar immediately after they come out of the oven.
Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
High Altitude – Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.