Best Spiced Orange Star Cocktail Cookies Recipes

ORANGE SPICE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat both sugars, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, and cream cheese together until creamy, at least 5 minutes. Add egg and mix well. Mix in molasses. Mix in vanilla, orange, and maple extracts.
• Stir flour, orange zest, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cloves, and nutmeg together in another bowl until well combined and no clumps of zest remain. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together just until incorporated; don't overmix.
• Drop spoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet briefly before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

SPICED ORANGE CRUMBLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, brown sugar, salt, cloves and black pepper. Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingers until small pebbles form. (Alternatively, use a food processor to pulse the dry ingredients with the butter.) Pour the cream over the mixture, stir just until combined and squeeze until the dough forms ¾-inch clumps. Transfer a little less than half of the crumble (1½ loosely packed cups/210 grams) to a small bowl and refrigerate.
• Transfer the remaining dough to the buttered pan and flatten into an even layer by pressing into the bottom of the pan with a glass. Bake on the middle rack until the edges are golden brown and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 22 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. If you tap the surface of the cookie, it should sound hollow.
• Spread the orange marmalade in an even layer over the surface. Sprinkle the reserved crumble over the top. Return to the oven and bake until the top is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Zest the orange directly over the top while the crumble is still warm. Cool completely in the pan, then run a knife along the edges of the crumble before releasing the sides. Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges and serve.

RUM-GLAZED SPICE COCKTAIL COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie ingredients until soft dough forms.
• On floured surface, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut with 2- to 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Reroll and cut remaining dough. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 1 inch apart.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• In small bowl, stir 2 tablespoons of the milk, the rum and powdered sugar until smooth. Add additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time to desired consistency. Drizzle over cookies. Let stand until glaze is almost set; sprinkle with coarse sugar.

GINGER-ORANGE STARS

Steps:

• For cookies:
• Sift first 7 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in molasses, egg yolk, orange peel, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Gather dough into ball. Divide into 4 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic and chill until cold and firm, at least 4 hours.
• Position racks in top third and bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 piece of dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2 1/2- to 3-inch star-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cookies to prepared sheets, spacing 1/2 inch apart (cookies spread very little). Gather scraps and reroll dough, cutting out more cookies. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse baking sheets; bake until cookies are puffed and look slightly darker around edges, about 5 minutes longer. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes. Using thin metal spatula, transfer cookies to racks; cool. Repeat with remaining dough pieces.
• For icing:
• Sift 1 1/2 cups sugar into medium bowl. Add 5 teaspoons water and vanilla; whisk until smooth. Whisk in more sugar by tablespoonfuls, if necessary, until icing falls thickly off whisk. Spoon icing into pastry bag fitted with 1/16-inch plain round tip or resealable plastic bag (cut tip off bag). Pipe icing onto cookies. Let stand until icing is hard, at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper.)