Soft Orange Cookies

Soft, cake-like Orange Cookies are easy to make and so delicious! Everyone will be obsessed with these light, citrusy cookies that you made from scratch.

I love a good chocolate cookie like these Brownie M&M Cookies, but there is something so delicious about a lighter cookie flavored with citrus. A glazed Orange Cookie may not be the first cookie I gravitate towards, but I’m always glad that I did!

The bright flavor in this easy Orange Cookie recipe comes from fresh orange juice and orange zest. These cookies are all orange! If you like fruity cookies, you should try this Banana Pudding Cookie recipe too.

This Orange cookie recipe makes super soft, cake-like cookies that are so light they almost melt in your mouth. The orange juice glaze is super simple and is the perfect sweet cookie topping. Let’s make these cookies!

Why You’ll Love This Cookie Recipe

1. Light and Bright: While many cookie flavors are heavy and rich, these cookies are refreshingly light with the bright flavor of fresh oranges. Citrus desserts are totally underrated!
2. Simple Recipe: Just a handful of common kitchen staples are needed to make this orange cookie recipe, and the recipe itself is not hard at all. If you’ve made any other type of drop cookies before, you’ll recognize the process.
3. Perfect Snack: Orange cookies are the perfect match with a hot cup of tea in the afternoon or as a sweet bite after dinner.

Key Ingredients

Soft Orange Cookies Ingredients:

• Butter: The first ingredient in all good cookie recipes, butter adds rich flavor and the right amount of fat to this recipe.
• Granulated Sugar: Simple white sugar for sweetness.
• Yogurt: You can use plain or Greek yogurt. Non-dairy yogurt will also work. Yogurt is key to getting the soft, light texture that these cookies have.
• Egg: When baking cookies, allow your egg and your butter to come to room temperature before mixing.
• Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and Salt: A dry ingredient mix featuring both baking soda and baking powder gives these soft cookies extra lift.
• Orange Juice: Freshly squeezed orange juice keeps these cookies moist and flavorful.
• Orange Zest: Most of the flavor in an orange is stored in the outer layer of the peel. Wash your oranges before zesting them.

Orange Icing Ingredients:

• Fresh Orange Juice: This turns a plain sugar glaze into an orange glaze for these orange cookies.
• Powdered Sugar: Mixed with the orange juice, powdered sugar creates a sweet glaze that will harden when dry.
• Orange Zest: Optionally, add a teaspoon of orange zest into the glaze for extra flavor. A bit of zest on top of the cookies is the perfect simple decoration.

How to Make Soft Orange Cookies

1. Cream: In a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter with sugar until smooth.
2. Mix: Add yogurt and egg and beat again for 30 seconds. The mixture won’t be very smooth and that’s ok. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the orange juice and zest, and mix again. The cookie dough will be soft and a bit on the wet side.
3. Scoop: Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out cookie balls. You can also use a spoon to drop dough in two-tablespoon-sized balls.
4. Bake and Cool: Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes in a pre-heated 350°F/180°C oven. The cookies are done when they’re lightly browned on the bottom. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Make the Icing: Add powdered sugar to a bowl, then gradually add the orange juice and zest and mix until you reach the desired consistency. The glaze should be thick enough to stay on the cookies.
6. Glaze: On a wire rack, spoon the icing over the cookies, letting some of the icing drip over the sides. Garnish with orange zest before the icing sets.

Recipe Tips

• Pro Tip for Extra Orange Flavor: Infuse the sugar with the orange zest. Instead of just adding the zest into the dough at the end, use your fingers to blend the zest with the granulated sugar first. The orange flavor will be more pronounced this way!
• Another Way to Get More Orange Flavor: Try using extract! You can actually use this orange extract in place of orange zest in baking recipes, so it’s handy to keep around. Add a teaspoon if you want to get an intense orange flavor in these cookies.
• The Dough Will Be Wet: Don’t be alarmed if your cookie dough seems soft, wet, or sticky. This is how it’s supposed to be. If the dough is so loose that it won’t hold a ball shape, you may need to add a bit of flour, but otherwise, this texture is what creates the cake-like crumb of our cookies.
• Fresh Orange Juice or Bottled: Which you use is going to depend on what is available to you. If you have access to really fresh, juicy oranges, you should use freshly squeezed orange juice to bake with. On the other hand, if you can’t find great oranges, high quality bottled orange juice will give you better flavor.
• Two Oranges are Enough: To get the amount of fresh orange juice and orange zest that you need for this recipe, you’ll need at least two medium to large oranges. To be safe, I’d probably buy three.
• To Zest an Orange: The best tool for zesting citrus is a very fine grater, also called a Microplane. This too allows you to remove just to dark orange outer layer of the orange and leaves the bitter white pith behind. Zest your oranges before you juice them – trust me, it’s difficult to do it the other way around!

MAKE AHEAD TIPS FOR ORANGE COOKIES

You can make the Orange Cookie dough up to 48 hours ahead of time if you like. Before baking, allow the dough to sit out at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.

HOW TO STORE ORANGE COOKIES WITH GLAZE

Avoid stacking these cookies if at all possible, as the glaze will cause the layers to stick together. Store baked and iced cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Place wax paper or parchment paper between layers as needed.

Fun Cookie Recipes to Try Next

• Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
• Ombre Spritz Cookies
• Oatmeal Scotchies
• Monster Cookies

FAQs

As delicious as an orange chiffon cake, but in the form of a simple to make cookie instead, everyone is going to go nuts for these! Don’t forget to Pin it so you can find it later!