Donata and I weren’t kidding, in honor of #Internationalchocolateday, we’re making a weekend out of it. We’re celebrating chocolate as if it were a vitally important food group, and you can bet your chocolate-crumb covered lips that we take this very seriously. If you love chocolate and you love oranges, and the choc-orange combination makes you swoon, these are for you! We tinkered with this recipe until it was just perfect, and we were more than happy to taste test. We think we nailed it, so have a go and let us know.
We used @Lindt Intense Orange Chocolate and boosted it with orange zest to double up on both the chocolate and the orange flavors! Stop drooling, start baking! xoxo Kirsty
Ingredients (makes 24 cookies)
1-2/3 cup (205g) flour
1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
finely grated zest of one orange
2/3 cup (140g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-1/4 cup (170g) brown sugar
2/3 cup (85g) white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon orange extract (optional)
5oz (140g) Lindt Intense Orange Chocolate (around 1-1/2 bars), broken into chunks
Method
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and orange zest. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the brown and white sugars for 3 minutes until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Add the egg, and scrape down the sides to ensure everything is incorporated. Add the vanilla and orange extracts, and combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture bit by bit, and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chunks and fold them into the batter. Cover the dough and and refrigerate for at least an hour. Try not to sneak into the fridge to "test" the dough!
When you're ready to bake them, preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop walnut sized dough balls the lined baking sheet, they will spread out so leave a couple of inches between them. Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes. Remove from oven, set aside to cool for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Who are we kidding, dive in as soon as they're cool enough to handle!
