Simple, fragrant cookies with warm spices and a bright citrus flavour. They are quick to prepare and perfect for batch baking. These can be frozen as dough and then cooked on demand - a mug of tea and two of these makes for gorgeous treat.
Ingredients
Makes about 12 cookies
Prep 10 mins + chilling time
Bake 10–12 mins
- 125g plain flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 75g sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 30g melted butter
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Zest of 1–2 oranges
- About ½ tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
Method
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.
- Mix the oil and milk with the vanilla extract and orange zest.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until a stiff dough forms.
- The dough may seem sticky at first but will come together as you mix it. It should form a slightly crumbly cookie dough.
- Shape the dough into a ball, cover with some cling film and chill in the fridge for a few hours. If you are short on time, 30 minutes in the freezer will do.
- Heat the oven to 165°C.
- Remove the chilled dough and roll into small balls. For evenly sized cookies, each ball should weigh about 30g.
- Place on a baking tray, leaving space between them for the cookies to spread slightly.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool. The cookies will be a little soft when they come out of the oven but will firm up beautifully as they cool.
- Allow to cool on the wire rack for 10–15 minutes before serving.
Chef's Tips
- This works beautifully as a vegan recipe. Just use a plant-based milk instead of dairy, and swap in two tablespoons of olive oil for the butter.
- The cookies can be made in advance and stored in the freezer until you are ready to bake, so they are perfect for batch cooking. Make a double batch and you will have a supply in the freezer that you can take out and bake on demand in less than fifteen minutes when you need them.
