Having tried many chocolate recipes along with many chocolate combinations, these Chocolate Orange Cookies are another baked good that you definitely should consider, especially if you like that beautiful harmony between Chocolate and Orange!

Chocolate Orange Cookies Recipe by Bakeomaniac

Personally, I haven’t tried a lot of chocolate orange combinations. However, after tasting experimenting several times and tasting these, I immediately fell in love and got swooned over by these amazing Chocolate Orange Cookies. If I must say, I am really proud of this delightful and aromatic recipe.

This cookie is constructed such that there is a base of chocolate flavour, which the delectable orange flavour builds upon. In order to incorporate that flavourful and addictive orange flavouring, we are going all natural and using fresh orange juice squeezed from the orange itself, along with the zest of the orange.

DO NOT, I emphasize, DO NOT use synthetic orange flavouring, or orange juice from the cartons. The reason is simple.

Personally, while I do advocate the use of vanilla essence and extracts, along with other essences and extracts such as peppermint and mint, I never supported the use of using orange flavourings. The reason is simple. It just does not taste as good. Your baked goods are as good as the quality of the ingredients use. Why would you want to waste all the other ingredients simply by using synthetic orange flavouring? Make the effort to get fresh oranges in order to get both fresh orange juice and orange zest.

If you do not have oranges available in your area, then I am sorry to say that it is more worthwhile to actually give up the recipe ( and I admittedly say so regretfully ). It is just not worth the compromise!

Next, do not use orange juice from the cartons. I am not so sure if there are cartons that contain pure 100% orange juice that are solely from the orange itself in your area, but from my experience, there aren’t. Most of these orange juice brands although they claim to have harvested the juice from oranges, with taglines such as ” 100% real oranges ” and so on, they still have the addition of chemicals. For instance, natural sweeteners, preservatives, perhaps even artificial colouring and so on. These chemicals will possibly affect the baked product in one way or another, and I do not want to risk it. You can experiment however, but again, I would like to harp that it is not worth the experimentation. It’s either you get fresh oranges or do not attempt this recipe ( though it is still your freedom to do so of course! ). I just can’t bare to see the waste of precious ingredients that could be utilized for other purposes!

Going back to the main point, yes, we are using pure, fresh and all natural oranges. We are going to use both the orange zest and the orange juice to make these scrumptious chocolate orange cookies.

On top of which, we are going to add some cocoa powder in order to give that chocolate background that is to die for. Sure, it is just another chocolate background, another chocolate flavouring, isn’t it? But it’s different in this case because this background is absolutely essential for the orange flavouring to build upon to create this beautiful harmony of flavours. Your taste buds and your stomach will definitely thank you for this recipe!

By the way, let’s take a break here and see how pretty the batter looks! It looks so rich and I adore how glossy it turned out:

Furthermore, this is another part of my desire to bake using fruits to incorporate flavours. Honestly, after a spate of chocolate recipes, I am kind of getting sick of chocolates. Don’t get me wrong, they are still heavenly and irresistible. But sometimes too much of a good thing is bad! You just need to have that break, and to realize you actually enjoy chocolate again!

It is then, what this Chocolate Orange Cookies recipe is set out to achieve. Unless you’re a strong hater of chocolate ( WHY?! ), a person who dislike chocolates to a small extent would most probably enjoy these cookies as well.

This is because the chocolate flavour is just a back ground, and the main focus here will be on the oranges!

For those who read my other recipes, you will know that I often include a section at the end to show an honest image. This time, the honest image is the one being used. The image used at the top is completely honest with just the light of the afternoon sun. No filters, editing etc and so on! So let me just paste it here again so you don’t have to scroll up!

Without further ado, onward with the recipe!

Overall Difficulty: 1/5 ( Suitable for Beginners )
Time Taken: 1 hour 20 minutes ( Including mixing, zesting and juicing the orange, baking time ). Do note that the baking time might vary depending on how many baking trays you have and can fit into the oven. For me, I run 2 baking trays at one go. No cooling is required here.

Makes: 32 tablespoon sized batter, that will expand.

If you do not own a juicer, fret not for you can refer to my baking tip here on how to juice an orange without one ( this is the method I used for this recipe ): How to Squeeze Orange Juice by Hands

Ingredients Required:

  • 1/2 Cup or 115g of Unsalted Butter, Softened at Room Temp
  • 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbspns or 75g of Brown Sugar
  • 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbspns or 75g of Granulated White Sugar
  • 1 Large Egg (approx 55g, room temp)
  • Approx 40ml of Orange Juice (2 Tbspns + 2 Tsps)
  • 1 Tsp or 5ml of Vanilla Essence
  • 1/4 Tsp or 1.5g of Table Salt (Optional)
  • 1 and 1/4 Cup or 160g All-Purpose / Plain Flour
  • 1/3 Cup or 25g of Cocoa Powder (Sifted )
  • 1/2 Tsp or 3g of Baking Soda
  • 1/4 Tsp or 1.5g of Baking Powder
  • 1/3 Cup or 25g of Cocoa Powder (Sifted )
  • Approx 1 and 1/2 Tsps of Orange Zest
  • 1/2 Cup or 100g of Chocolate Chips (adjustable)

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C or 350F and line baking trays with parchment paper.
  2. Cream together the two sugars with the softened butter. Make sure to destroy any sugar lumps.
  3. Add in the vanilla essence, orange juice and egg, and stir until well combined.
  4. Add in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and orange zest and stir until well combined.
  5. Add in the sifted cocoa powder, all purpose flour, and chocolate chips and stir until just combined ( when all flour and cocoa powder has dissolved ).
  6. Drop them tablespoonfuls on the prepared baking trays, about 2.5 inches apart.
  7. Bake for about 11-13 minutes.
  8. Cool for about 30 minutes, then serve and enjoy!

Notes:
These cookies can keep well at room temperature in an airtight container for about 5 days.

Do take note that you should wash the orange well before grating to obtain the zest as we want to reduce the amount of chemicals we could possibly be ingesting from the zest.

If you want to produce the image I used, or a similar one, simply reserve some of the orange zest and sprinkle it lightly over the cookies before taking the image. Do note that however, the orange zest will clump together when wet. So you might want to leave the orange zest to dry, or wash them, then dry, before grating them.

Do share this recipe, or leave any feedback! I will definitely reply and attend to you!

Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan!