Happiest of New Year’s to everyone. I hope you all got some much deserved rest over the holidays, but probably not – much like myself. I did however, take a rest from this space and enjoyed a little break. But here I am back at it with a cookie. I bet you need a cookie like you need 10 more pounds in addition to the pounds you packed on holiday eating. Well I am here for that with blood orange cookies.

This cookie was supposed to be a ricotta cookie…

Yep, almost ricotta cookie. I set out to adapt this lemon ricotta cookie, making it a blood orange ricotta cookie with the huge container of ricotta I did not use over the holidays – somehow I forgot to make cannoli this year. I portioned all my sh-t out, opened the ricotta to add it and…O.M.G. no. Ricotta spoiled…the smell could’ve killed me. But I had already mixed all my dry ingredients in a bowl and half of my wet ingredients, and in an effort to not waste food, I decided to come up with something…these blood orange cookies were born.

So what actually are these blood orange cookies?

What I ended up with is delicious. These are a light and cake-y cookie – almost like something you’d get served with afternoon tea. They are not too sweet and have a lovely orange scent and flavor. Also, blood oranges are a bit less acidic than regular oranges and are also a bit sweeter…perfect for a cookie.

In place of ricotta, I used greek yogurt, and it worked like a charm. I figured, it kind of has a similar thickness to ricotta, so why not. Traditional ricotta cookies are made with lemon, and the lemon brings a good amount of tartness to the cookies. Since blood oranges are sweeter, less tart, the yogurt provides a nice tartness in these cookies. These are a winner, and they are something different than what you’ve probably been eating for cookies over the holidays.

What you need for these blood orange almost ricotta cookies.

Mostly the usual suspects:

flour
baking powder
salt
butter
sugar
eggs
greek yogurt

Let’s talk about that glaze…

Name me one dessert that isn’t made better with some kind of glaze…I will wait. A little powdered sugar a little blood orange zest and juice and you have a perfect sweet glaze to drizzle atop these making them just a little something extra special. And, it could not be easier.

I am a huge fan of using what you have and this recipe truly embodies that. A fun little surprise I didn’t even know existed…and just like that it does.

Blood orange cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
Zest of one blood orange
2 eggs at room temperature
2 cups of greek yogurt
4 tablespoons blood orange juice or use regular if that is all that's available
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons blood orange juice
Zest from one blood orange

Instructions

To make the cookies

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or use a hand mixer if that's what you have) pour in your sugar and your zest. Using your fingers or a fork smash together the sugar and the zest - this will release all the flavorful oils in the zest. Add the butter to the blood orange sugar and using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until super light and fluffy - give it a few good minutes. Add your eggs one at a time and beat until combined. Then add the orange juice and the vanilla and beat to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low until just incorporate - don't overmix or you'll have a tough cookie. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least two hours.
Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop the chilled dough, using a tablespoon or a small cookie scoop onto the parchment. Bake on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes. They should just start to look a little golden on the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.