Winter, Holiday, Dessert, Snack, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

1 Dough, 2 Cookies

Very recently I was bemoaning the fact that I don’t make enough cookies. My mother had called and, as can be expected, we were discussing treats and snacks. She’s been making a chocolate chocolate cookie weekly for nearly a year now and wondered why I wasn’t baking more myself. The frightening truth is that I’m baking more than ever, but with so much time spent on new recipes, I hardly ever get back around to baking some of my old standbys. 

Case in point: I have not made chocolate chip cookies since I moved into my new apartment. 
This is unacceptable. 

The holidays are good for many things, chief among them Tradition. I’m taking a break from tweaking my fruitcake to bake up a platter of wintery favorites. I use this dough to make both Orange Spice Cookies and a simple Sugar Cookie (iced, of course). With the wind blowing outside (and a modern absence of fireplaces indoors), I like to welcome guests with a nibble and a sweet scent in the air. 

For all that is holy this year, bake some cookies. 
Happy Holidays darlings, eat up.

Orange Spice Cookies and Lemon Iced Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
  • ¾ cup Sugar
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • ½ cup Brown Rice Flour
  • ⅓ cup Potato Starch
  • ⅓ cup White Rice Flour
  • ⅓ cup Millet Flour
  • ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ¼ tsp Xanthan Gum

To half the dough, add:

  • 1 teaspoon Molasses
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon Ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon Cloves
  • Zest of one Orange

And roll those in:

  • 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Sugar


Process

  1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using an electric hand mixer and a separate bowl), cream the Spectrum Organic Shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the egg and vanilla, stir until just combined.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stir to combine.
  6. Remove half the dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. This wrapped dough will be used for the sugar cookies.
  7. To the remaining dough, add the molasses and spices, stir until dough is dark brown.
  8. Pinch off small balls of dough, roll them in your hands then toss them in a bowl of cinnamon and sugar. Press these balls onto a cookie sheet.
  9. Bake the spice cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until just brown around the edges.
  10. Remove from the oven, let cool and eat.
  11. Take the sugar cookie dough out of the refrigerator.
  12. Toss flour on your work surface (to keep the dough from sticking) and roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.
  13. Using your favorite cookie cutter (or a menagerie) cut out cookies and place them on a cookie sheet.
  14. Bake sugar cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until just brown around the edges.
  15. Remove from the oven, let cool while you make lemon frosting.


Lemon Frosting
Ingredients

  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • Juice of one Lemon

Process

  1. Whisk ingredients together until glossy and thick.
  2. Dip cookies in frosting, let set on rack.