Orange Creamsicle Cookies

I first made these cookies about a year ago before I began chronicling our recipe catalogue on wafoodie. Planning on making some sort of cookie at the last minute, I saw a stray orange in the fridge and knew I had all of the ingredients in my pantry to make these orange and vanilla cookies with flavors reminiscent of the ever popular Creamsicle ice cream pops.

Last time I made them, I remember them not having enough orange flavor to be considered a Creamsicle in my opinion, so I took some steps to increase the flavor, slightly adapting the recipe from Baked Perfection.

These cookies come together very quickly, as long as you remember to zest the orange first, which I didn't.

First, preheat the oven to 375° then combine 2 1/2 cups of flour, 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl.

Then cream together 1 cup of butter, room temperature, with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar until fluffy. Add in 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and continue to beat. Squeeze the juice of half an orange into the batter at this point (my additional step to add more orange flavor). Slowly add the flour mixture and combine. Stir in 3 tablespoons of orange zest and 1 1/2 cups of high quality white chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough for several hours or overnight.

Using a cookie scoop, place teaspoon-sized rounds of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes. I ended up with nearly 3 dozen, smallish but delicious cookies, the perfect light and refreshing cookie for summer.

No surprise here given the amount of butter used, but these cookies are rich and buttery, and are incredibly reminiscent of Creamsicles with lots of orange and vanilla flavor. White chocolate chips add to the creaminess and make these cookies look better.

We took these cookies with us on a weekend trip to Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helen's with Dustin's parents who were in town visiting us. The weather was perfect (and surprisingly hot!), perfect for picnics in the park with roast beef sandwiches, fresh local cherries, and Creamsicle cookies along with some light hiking.