Bloody Valentine - Blood Orange Shortbread Cookies

As some of you may or may not know, I'm not a very creative person. Sure I can copy something I've seen to the "T", but I rarely come up with my own ideas. Except for this recipe! It's nothing new or clever it's just a twist on a favorite of mine.

We got a bunch of blood oranges over the weekend and I was thinking of making something with them for VDay. Something about them being bloody red seems to scream Valentine's to me, don't ask. So that's how I came up with my Blood Orange Shortbread Cookies. Thankfully I took step by step pictures. I personally love seeing them on blogs but hate taking them because it takes me forever to shoot, edit, upload, etc.

This is what I love about shortbread cookies, just a few simple ingredients that make a fantastic dessert. Because you don't need many ingredients, you want to use the best you can find. Grade AA butter, good quality vanilla, fresh oranges, you get the picture :) Aside from that you will also need powdered sugar, all purpose flour, and kosher salt.

I know this looks like a lot of butter, that's because it is, I'm not even gonna lie. Don't be scared and cream this baby for a few minutes, make sure it's room temperature.

While the butter is going, zest enough blood oranges to get about a tablespoon of zest. These were teeny tiny ones, perhaps two inches in diameter so I used about 3. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt to the butter.

Once those are mixed, add the zest.

Squeeze the oranges you zested, you want about two tablespoons of juice.

The juice gives the butter a pretty pink hue. Sadly it's not very noticeable once you add the flour, which is the next step. Mix just until incorporated, don't over beat it. Then wrap and chill the dough for at least 2 hours, I made this 4 days in advance.

Now you want to preheat your oven to 350º. Flour your surface and roll out the cookie dough to about 1/4". If you want a perfectly even cookie, use wooden dowels to help lift the roller off the surface. Since it's the same thickness through, your dough will be evenly thick.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment and arrange your cookies. These hardly spread at all so you can put them close together. Chill them 15-30 minutes before baking them. Baking times strongly vary, if you like a white barely cooked cookie do 8-10 minutes, if you want it cooked through bake it for 15-17 minutes.

Now is the time to make the icing, which is just powdered sugar and blood orange juice. The consistency should be slightly runny, perhaps a 3-4 second ribbon.

You can use a spoon to decorate the cookies but I think it's best to throw the icing into a zip baggie, it's much neater and easier to clean up.

MMMMMM!!!!!! Sooooo good!!! They literally melt in your mouth. Alright so once they're done, cool them completely on a rack and try not to eat them while they're hot :P

 

And now the fun begins!!! You don't have to use this icing, you can do anything you want really. Use crystals, sprinkles, anything, go crazy!

Seriously, how cute??? Not to toot my own horn but I think they're adorable. Here are some of my faves:

I threw some chocolate on a couple of them, OH MAN! Orange + Chocolate = HEAVEN

Anyway I hope you guys liked these and if you're dying to make them, here's the recipe. Enjoy!


Blood Orange Shortbread Cookies
Yields: 4 dozen two inch cookies

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups of butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon blood orange zest
• 1 tablespoon blood orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1. Cream butter until soft and fluffy, about 3 minutes
2. Add sugar, vanilla, and salt
3. Zest and juice the oranges and add the ingredients to the mix.
4. Add flour and mix just until incorporated. Knead dough with hands, wrap and chill at least 2 hours
5. Once dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350º, roll out dough to about 1/4"
6. Cut and place on cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper
7. Chill for 15-30 minutes
8. Bake until desired brownness, 8-15 minutes
9. Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on racks
10. Decorate and enjoy

For the icing mix 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and 2-3 tbsp of juice