Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies

I'm suffering a catch-22 on these cookies. They are delicious, but were a pain in the ass to make. Don't get me wrong, they were easy to mix together, but the dough was so gosh-darn soft and sticky that rolling them out then cookie cutting them was near impossible. I even put them in the freezer for a bit before cutting them. While this helped in theory (they did get hard enough to cut out), they thawed very quickly, causing a sticky mess the more I cut the cookies out. I whined as I finished cutting what I was cutting, then I gave up, and just threw the rest of the cookies on to the cookie sheet in a giant, chocolately-orange mass and baked that. It tasted just as good, but wasn't as pretty.

I also took a few liberties with this cookie. I added some actual orange pieces, as well as some orange juice. While mixing the dough, the dough remained very crumbly, so I added some orange juice to bind it together better. I also almost added eggs, because I though I forgot to add them. THESE COOKIES DO NOT HAVE EGGS! So please, don't add them. You'll probably just get a mess.

And now, if you've been following my blog, you'll know that almost once a recipe I mess something up, or don't have enough of something. So I usually end up omitting or substituting ingredients. Friday's issue wasn't as easy as leaving something out. I ran out of all-purpose flour. I found whole-wheat flour in my pantry, so I substituted some of that. I used the Cook's Thesaurus online (which is a savior!!) and used a bit less whole-wheat flour in place of all-purpose flour. Everything seemed, and tasted swell. So this little snafu is our secret...

Want to undertake the sticky dough? Here is the recipe, courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com

From SimplyRecipes.com

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon orange zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 5 minutes, being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom as needed. Add the vanilla and orange zest and mix for 30 seconds. Add about half the flour mixture and mix on low speed. Scrape down the bottom and sides and add the rest of the flour mixture. Once incorporated, mix at medium speed for 3 minutes.

4. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper and place the dough on it. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper, and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness with a rolling pin. You many find the dough getting too soft,. If it does, place it in the freezer for ten minutes to firm it up before you continue rolling. Cut into desired shapes and place on the baking sheets about 1-inch apart.

5. Bake for 13-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. it can be difficult to tell when these cookies are done, so when they smell like freshly baked cookies and the edges are slightly firm but still give a bit then consider them done. Remove the pans and allow the cookies to cool for a minute or two before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.