Almond and orange cookies

Making cookies is child's work, and these delicious almond and orange cookies are proof of this: with very little and in a very short time you will be enjoying delicious cookies. If you accompany them or bathe them in chocolate, the combination will be even richer. Claudia's word.

Today my little Jan has helped me to make them, proof and witness of how easy they are to make and how delicious they have turned out.

It is well known that almond and orange combine very well (surely you have tried brioches, cakes or other sweets that have both ingredients). The almonds give these cookies not only their flavor, but also that earthy texture that I love to find in a good homemade cookie.

On the other hand, the orange dot, despite how light it gives it a touch of freshness, which if you combine with chocolate (especially black, of course), contrasts in the most ideal way, delighting those with a sweet tooth.

I hope you are encouraged to try them, and that you tell me how they have turned out for you. Happy week!

Ingredients (For many cookies!)

• 180 g butter (at room temperature)
• 160 g icing sugar
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 2 "L" eggs
• 380 g pastry flour
• 150 g of almond flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• (Optional) Chocolate Chips
• To decorate: dark confectionery chocolate, or white chocolate, chocolate chips...

Preparation

1. The butter should be at room temperature. If it is not, put it in the microwave for a few seconds so that it loses cold, but above all that it does not melt or remain liquid.
2. In the KitchenAid with the extendable side shovel accessory, mix the butter with the icing sugar at speed 2 (maintain that speed throughout the preparation).
3. When the mixture is soft and integrated, add the orange zest.
4. Add a lightly beaten egg, and once integrated add the other. Wait for it to integrate.
5. Add the orange juice and the 3/4 teaspoon of salt.
6. Add the 380g of pastry flour, followed by the 150g of almond flour.
7. If you want to add chocolate chips, now is the time: add them and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
8. Wrap in transparent film and leave in the fridge for 1 hour.
9. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
10. Take the dough out of the fridge, roll it out with a rolling pin as quickly as possible and, without handling them too much so that the butter in the recipe does not heat up, mark the dough with De Buyer cutters or Nordic Ware stamps (you see that we have made a few of each). Make as many cookies as dough you have left.
11. Go baking on a Nordic Ware baking tray , with the tray on top of the oven. Do not get confused: in a few minutes, about ten, you will have golden brown cookies. Remove the tray from the oven when they start to take color, and let cool on a cooling tray. Go baking the cookies in batches until finished.

Grades

1. If you want to cover with chocolate (black and/or white), melt it in the microwave with a little cooking cream, and dip the cookies totally or partially in it and let it cool. You can also paint the cookies only on the top, and when the chocolate is still hot, add some colored chocolate shavings so that they stick together (kids love them).
2. To bake cookies, I recommend a perforated tray or the Nordic Ware baking tray (among other things, it is ideal for cookies because having a double layer generates an interior air chamber that toasts the cookies very quickly).

To enjoy!