Orange Dreamsicle Cookies

Orange Dreamsicle Cookies - made dough June 23, 2012, baked June 30, 2012 from My Happy Place blog

Thank you all for the prayers and support for Zoe's family - they're much appreciated.  Similar to Zoe's outlook in her battle with cancer, we all look for the good in any situation that makes us stronger and appreciate what we have.  She was a living testament to that mindset and always thought of others.  One of the pieces of good I've received was to find out from a person who commented on my previous post about an organization called CookiesforKidsCancer.org.  I'd never heard of them before but I'm glad to have heard of them now and plan to order from them for any occasion I can think of for friends and family and to donate to them.  Thank you, Debbie D, for letting me know about them.

I'm still posting the blog posts I wrote prior to Zoe's passing so they're not going to have the same tone as what I'm feeling at the moment - bear with me.

I like oranges.  I like cookies.  So I don't know why I don't make orange cookies that often or even try recipes for them.  Let me rectify that. I saw this from one (or more) of the link parties I participate in and had to pin it.  Then I had to make it because I'm also obsessing about trying the recipes I pin.  So glad I tried this one as it was quite good.  Like a tasty, moist sugar cookie but with an orange flavor.  The white chocolate complements the orange nicely.  While I'm not a big advocate of white chocolate chips, they worked really well in this recipe.

Normally when I make recipes from another blog, I only link up to their blog post so you have to go there to get the recipe because I believe in credit (and web traffic) going to where credit is due.  But then I started getting paranoid about the other blogs going down, their blog owners no longer doing a blog and something happening to that recipe on their blog.  Disastrous if it's a recipe I really like.  What if I never get access to it again??  So I am going to be including the recipes on my own blog, with my modifications if I make any - just in case.  But please do visit the original blogs that they came from; you never know what gems you might discover on your own.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 white chocolate bar, chopped (I used white chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice.
4. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined.
5. Add in white chocolate chunks/chips.
6. Drop by tablespoonful onto prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Note: if you're not baking right away, don't preheat the oven, scoop the dough into dough balls, chill until firm then put in freezer bags and store in the freezer until you're ready to bake.