Orange Butter Cookies

My boyfriend & his family keep complaining [with cookies stuffed in their cheeks] that I'm going to make them fat if I keep baking cookies all the time. So needless to say there's been many requests for me to make healthy baked goods. I happily obliged, especially since my goal eventually coming out of baking school is to own a bakery that provides a variety of vegan baked goods. Today was day 1 of the Healthy Cookie Experiment [obviously I had to turn this into a fun challenge/experiment for myself, and I will post recipes + updates on here]. I found this recipe in my book called "The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread", a cookbook derived from a New York Bakery called Amy's Bread. I talked about it in my cooking blog, just before creating this one, my baking one. I thought this would be a good start to something lighter, and not so chocolate-y and sweet. [Granted the sugar sprinkled on top doesn't help my less-sugar argument.]

Source: The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups cake flour^*
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/4 cups sugar*
1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened*
2 1/2 tsp orange zest, finely minced, tightly packed
1 large egg*
2 egg yolks, from large eggs*


Directions:
1. Position one rack in the top third of the oven, one rack in the bottom third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the cookie sheets with baking parchment.
2. In a bowl, add the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, and salt and whisk together.
3. In another bowl, using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar, butter, and orange zest on med speed for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl frequently. Gradually add the eggs and egg yolks, mixing on medium speed until everything is well combined.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in stages. Mix only until everything is well combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl frequently. There should not be any pockets of dry flour left in the dough.
5. Using a large soup spoon, a metal ice cream scoop, or your clean hands moistened with water, scoop out big balls of dough, placing 6 balls on each prepared cookie sheet. Each ball of dough should weigh approximately 90 g/3.17 oz each. If you don't have a scale, use a scant 1/2 cup to estimate the size. The dough balls should be about 2 1/4 inches in diameter. Using the three middle fingers of your hand, press firmly on the top of each ball to flatten it to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Allow the dough to push up between your fingers so an imprint of valleys and ridges remains. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies generously with extra granulated sugar. They will spread a moderate amount during baking. Bake for about 17 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through the baking time. The cookies should be pale but baked all the way to the center. They should be soft, but be careful not to underbake or the the centers will be doughy.**
6. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack and cool completely before storing.


^Buyers Tip: I got my cake flour at Whole Foods. I was having a hard time locating it at the popular-name grocery stores.
*Baking Tip: I use a variety of organic ingredients every now and then, such as organic sugar and organic butter, and Omega-3 enriched, cage-free eggs. I haven't found this to affect my results, so I continue to use organic and healthy ingredients whenever possible.
**Baking Tip: Do NOT put the dough for this recipe in the fridge in between batches! I did, thinking nothing of it, and when I got home from lunch to bake my second batch, the dough was hard and dry. It needs to remain at room temperature in order to remain in its best consistency!