Chocolate Orange Chew

Total Preparation Time – About 30 Minutes
Time Spent Waiting – No Activities Require Waiting
Cook Time – About 9 Minutes per Batch

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine bought me a cookbook focused on Beer and Cookies. Some recipes used beer in the recipe, and others were created to eat with specific beers. For over a year, my happy hour crew and I sampled beers and cookies. Even the bar patrons got into the groove. You may be asking, “Really? Beer and Cookies?” Surprisingly, when you get the right pairing the cookie enhances some aspect of the beer, or the beer enhances some aspect of the cookie, making the experience more enjoyable. Now, if the pairing is not right, the beer can become unpalatable, most commonly making the beer taste boozy or bitter. Either way, it’s a fun activity to do with friends.

So, I have moved on from the Beer and Cookies cookbook, after making every cookie in the book at least once. Mind you, there are recipes in that cookbook that I absolutely adore, like a Bacon Shortbread. But, alas it’s time to move onto different types of cookies and try to figure out new pairings. This brings us to this week’s cookie, which is a Chocolate Orange Chew. The cookie is slightly chewy with a dominant chocolate flavor and hints of orange. I think the cookie might do well with the addition of toasted walnuts and maybe a bit more orange zest on the next go around.

After an exhaustive session of testing beers and the Chocolate Orange Chew, the consensus of my happy hour crew was the cookie was rather flexible, going with many types of beers. The bar manager and I agree that the cookie was good with a Belgian Quad and even better with a Nut Brown Ale. The quad enhanced the orange in the cookie. The brown ale just went well with the cookie, similar to an Oreo and Milk.

How to Make the Chocolate Orange Chew

To start, take a large orange, zest it then juice it. The recipe needs about ½ tablespoon of orange zest and 3 tablespoons of orange juice. When selecting an orange from the grocery store, I try to choose an orange with a firm skin that is deep orange color. You should smell the orange skin and ask yourself if that’s the flavor you want in your cookie. I like to choose one that is sweet and orangey, instead of bitter.

Next, in a bowl, whisk together 1 ¾ cups of flour, ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa. Whisk until the dry ingredients are evenly brown. With the baking soda as a leavening agent, you will want to make sure it’s evenly distributed throughout, which is the whole purpose of whisking.

After mixing the dry ingredients, take two sticks of butter (1 Cup) at room temperature, and cream the butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (separate bowl from the flour). The butter should have a fluffy appearance. Once you have the butter nice and fluffy, mix in ½ cup of dark brown sugar and 1 cup of granulated sugar. Next, add in 1 egg at room temperature and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until mixed thoroughly. Finally, add the zest and orange juice, then mix thoroughly.

Once the sugar and wet ingredients have been mixed, add the dry ingredients about ½ cup at a time. Adding the flour mixture a little at a time prevents the mixer from tossing flour all over the place. Mix until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Try not to overmix.

To form the cookies, I used a 1 teaspoon dough scoop with a trigger release. I like to have consistent size cookies and using the scoop produces a fairly consistent cookie size. Normally, I like to use a kitchen scale to make all cookies equal, but with this recipe making about 4 dozen cookies (I got 54 out of the recipe) I wasn’t about to weigh out 48 cookies. LOL.

So, I baked the cookies 1 sheet at a time at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for about 9 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through the bake time. When you remove the cookies from the oven, let rest on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Once the cookies have cooled, you can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to a week.

I hope you enjoy,

Kappy

Equipment Needed

Stand Mixer with Paddle
Medium Mixing Bowl
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Whisk
1 Teaspoon Dough Scoop
Wooden Spoon or Spatula
Cookie Sheets
Parchment Paper
Cooling Rack

Ingredients

½ Tablespoon of Orange Zest (about 1 Large Orange)
3 Tablespoons of Orange Juice (Use Same Orange from Zest)
1 Cup of Butter (2 Sticks) – Softened/Room Temperature
½ Cup of Dark Brown Sugar
1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
1 Egg (at Room Temperature)
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
1 ¾ Cup of All Purpose Flour
¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/3 Cup of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Abbreviated Directions

1. Zest and Juice 1 Large Orange
2. Mix together 1 Cup of Softened Butter, ½ Cup of Dark Brown Sugar, 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
3. Mix in 1 Egg, 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
4. Mix in ½ Tablespoon of Orange Zest, and 3 Tablespoons of Orange Juice
5. In a separate bowl whisk together:
     1 ¾ Cup Flour
     ¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
     ¾ Cup of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
6. Mix together Wet and Dry Ingredients until evenly mixed
7. Scoop 1 Teaspoon of Dough evenly spaced onto lined cookie sheet
8. Bake at 350 Degrees for about 9 minutes (rotating cookie sheet after 4 minutes)
9. Let rest on cookie sheet about 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack