Orange and Chocolate Cookies from Vicki Delany

Anyone who lives in Ontario is no doubt familiar with Food + Drink magazine, the one given out at the LCBO.  This recipe was in their 2019 holiday edition, and I had to try it for an event I was bringing cookies too. Sooooo good. Note: The unbaked cookies need 4 – 24 hours in the fridge before baking, so plan your time accordingly.

Orange and Chocolate Cookies

3/4 cup (175 mL) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup (175 mL) sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) vanilla extract
2 tsp (10 mL) finely grated orange rind
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
10.5 oz (300 g) dark chocolate, chopped

1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer; using the flat beater, beat until uniform. Add egg and beat until well combined. Add salt, vanilla and orange rind and beat until uniform. Add flour and beat until just combined.

2. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on the counter. Scrape dough onto it and form into a uniform log about 1½ inches (4 cm) wide. Roll up paper and twist ends to enclose dough. Chill for 4 hours to overnight or until log is very firm.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Slice log into slices about 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick, giving log a quarter turn as you go to keep it round.

5. Lay cookies out on baking sheets at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake one sheet at a time (keeping the other sheet in the fridge until ready to bake) for 14 to 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden at the edges. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

6. Bring a pot with 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water in the bottom to a boil. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl on top of pot and let melt, stirring as needed, until chocolate is liquid. Let cool slightly.

7. Dip half of the top of each cookie in chocolate and lay on parchment to set.. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

Now available for Pre-Order: There's a Murder Afoot, the fifth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery from Vicki Delany. Coming January 7.  Just in time for Sherlock Holmes's 166th birthday, the fifth installment in national bestselling author Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery takes Sherlockania to the max with a Holmes convention and historic 221 Baker Street.

Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality?