Butter cookies with orange and almond

This year has given us for cookies, not only for what they like at home but also for the success they have outside of it, now at work or deserving them with friends, these crispy sweets cannot be missing. Even Omar has launched himself into the preparation of cookies in an industrial way (we are waiting to publish his walnuts and cinnamon), but to make a mouthful you can try these cookies   with all the flavor of the recipe of Roscón de Reyes that he sends us Marina, a beautiful girl from Madrid who dares with all the recipes on the blog.

We owe her this original recipe where we take advantage of the ingredients that are usually left over after preparing  a Roscón de Reyes , since you are suddenly at home with a lot of ingredients that you do not usually use until the following year. Marina’s idea was to use the candied half orange left over from the Roscón to remove a recipe from her sleeve and create, by the way, her first family tradition.

There are multiple recipes for Christmas cookies, some of my favorites are the famous gingerbread cookies very typical in Germany or Belgium, you can find various types of Christmas cookies   including how to  decorate our own Christmas cookies as I show you on the blog. Also I have prepared bags with homemade Christmas cookies    that will be a success at home.

The base of this recipe is very similar to that of butter cookies but adding chopped candied orange, a little orange blossom water, rolled almonds, a little sugar on top and baked. I will not sell them to you anymore because it is not necessary, you have to do them yes or yes. If you have plenty of  these orange cookies , or  hazelnut cookies ,  even  almond and pistachio cookies , no problem, I am willing to try them and tell you if they have worked out well for you. They are more than tested, I encourage you to prepare them and enjoy them with a large glass of cold milk or hot chocolate.

Preparation of candied oranges

In case you have not bought the candied orange for the Roscón and you want to prepare it yourself, it is a very simple recipe.

1. We wash the oranges that we are going to use very well, if you have a brush better than better. We dry with a little absorbent paper.
2. We cut the top and bottom of the orange and place it on a cutting board (very similar to when we cut an onion). Once we have the fixed orange it will be much easier to manipulate. We make a few cuts in the skin horizontally (for example 5 strips) and remove it as when you peel an orange to eat it. We remove part of the white from the shell if we see that it has a lot, because it can become bitter more than necessary.
3. We put a large saucepan with the water on the fire and when it starts to boil, add the orange peel and cook for 5 minutes, remove from the water and drain. We throw that water and we return to repeat the same operation another 5 minutes. Now is the time to cut into several strips 6 cm long and 5 mm wide (approximate measurement), perfect for confit.
4. In another casserole, heat the sugar with the water until everything dissolves and syrup (concentrated syrup of water and sugar) is made. We add the orange strips and cook for approximately 1 hour and a half over medium heat until the orange is confit. It should be a little translucent.
5. When the strips of candied orange are done, drain them and place them detached from each other on a rack (the one that comes from the oven works perfectly) until the excess sugar drains. Once they are cold we reserve for any recipe, for example these cookies.

Preparation of the Roscón cookies

1. The first of all is to preheat the oven to about 180ºC, it is important because the dough is very easy and fast and as we have everything mixed it goes directly to the oven.
2. We mix the butter at room temperature with the sugar with the help of some rods until we obtain a homogeneous paste, it has to be like a cream but not very liquid. We reserve.
3. We beat the egg with the whole milk, add the pinch of salt and the essence of orange blossom (a stopper of a bottle of soda, you have to be careful if you are going to make more cookies because you will have to vary the amounts). We combine with the butter paste and stir until everything is well integrated, all flavors must be mixed.
4. Add the sifted flour and yeast with a strainer. Mix well and, when the dough is already tied, add the candied orange, previously chopped into small pieces and mix everything very well with a fork. We already have the cookie dough, try it, even raw it is delicious …
5. We prepare the oven tray with vegetable paper or sulfurized. And with a spoon, since the dough is a little sticky, we are making small portions or balls that we deposit in the tray (with enough space so that when they are made they do not stick to each other, about 3 cm are enough). We crush and shape the cookies, decorate them with the almonds and sugar sprinkled on top.
6. Bake for 20 minutes at 190º in the middle tray with air up and down. As I told you everything depends on the oven of each one, in some it will be 18 minutes in others 25. It looks perfectly when they are ready because they are taking on a golden color.
7. We remove from the oven, let them harden and cool on the same oven tray. We keep in an airtight container so that they do not soften and are vice, to repeat. Be careful because they are simply addictive, highly addictive …

Where to buy and what brands do I use of orange blossom aroma or essence?

The orange blossom aroma is easy to find in almost all super and large surfaces (it is a product that I have bought in Eroski, Consum, Hipercor, Alcampo, El Corte Inglés or Carrefour).   Orange blossom water should not be bought in pharmacies as it is not suitable for food. I use orange blossom aroma that they sell in the pastry section, these two brands are usually found: “Aroma de Azahar” by Vahine (pastry section) and LAILA, 250 ml (in the international food or foreign products section) I think the latter is Moroccan and is used there for many of its dishes).

Be sure to enjoy all these homemade Christmas cookies that we have in our dessert recipes   and in the special Christmas recipes , I assure you that you will find a lot of ideas to make yours much happier.