I just love orange in baked goods, especially during the holidays. These delightful little cookies melt away in your mouth, with a burst of fresh orange flavor. The tradition of oranges in Christmas stockings goes way back. In my family, it was said to be for good luck. And when my great-grandmother Mary Ann Duncan says something is good luck, you’d better pay attention! One ignores her superstitions at one’s own peril. I first encountered orange snowball cookies in a cookbook called Cookies For Christmas (Meredith, 1999) that my mom gave me. As much as I loved the idea, I was unimpressed with the cookies, so I set out to make a better snowball. They look more like oranges than snowballs, but I think the orange sugar is fun. You can find orange sugar at NY Cake, or just use white sugar for rolling and have the cookies look more like snowballs. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Note that the orange flavoring used is pure orange oil, not extract. If you can’t find it locally, you can order it from King Arthur, one of my favorite baking supply sources.

You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page. 

“But doesn’t that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents and right at the end tucked away in the bottom there’s always one stupid old satsuma.” — The Doctor

Ingredients:

1 orange

¾ cup granulated sugar (orange-colored or white, or a combination)

1 tsp orange or gold edible glitter (optional)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

¾ cup confectioners’ sugar

1 egg

¾ tsp pure orange oil (not extract)

2+⅔ cups flour

1.) Preheat oven to 325℉. Finely grate two teaspoons of zest from the orange. Place in the bowl of a mini food processor. Add a few tablespoons of the granulated sugar, and process until blended. Stir in the rest of the granulated sugar and the glitter, cover, and set aside.

2.) Cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until smooth and fluffy.

3.) Squeeze 1 Tbsp juice from the orange, and add to the butter mixture. Add the egg and the orange oil, and mix well.

4.) Add the flour to the mixer bowl. Start at low speed, increasing as able, and mix until the flour is all incorporated.

5.) Scoop the dough and roll between your palms to make balls about 1” in diameter.

6.) Dip your fingers briefly in water, then tap your palm to slightly dampen it. Roll a dough ball with your palms to barely moisten its surface, then immediately roll it in the sugar mixture from step 1.

7.) Arrange the sugared balls about 2” apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes. The cookies will be just barely brown on the bottom and will have settled a little but still be round.