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Orange, spices update a classic

Recipe: Cardamom and turmeric are the surprising ingredients

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED DEC 12, 2021

Orange olive-oil cookies — These spiced sugar cookies, loaded with orange zest, brighten up a gray day. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Wet, gray, cold -- sounds like perfect cookie-baking weather. And a couple of large oranges self-harvested from my little Washington navel tree. They're not at their ripest, but the zest is definitely usable.

So I found a new winter cookie among the group of recipes that King Arthur Flour released this year, a collection dubbed "The New Classics." A sugar cookie is about as classic as you can get, and this zesty version is a winner -- and very pretty. It's more likely to appeal to adults than kids, and would go especially well with a good cup of tea.

The cardamom and turmeric are less-common spices in baking but they shine here. Substitute allspice for the cardamom if you're not a fan, but the turmeric is essential for the cookies' delightful color.

Orange, olive oil and spice containers — The flavor group: an orange, olive oil and spices.

Olive oil-orange sugar cookies

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but not melty

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted if lumpy

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup good-quality olive oil

Zest of 1 large or 2 small oranges

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (or allspice)

Sugar, orange zest and spices — Orange zest and spices enhance the sugar coating.

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Coating:

1/2 cup granulated sugar or sanding sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (or allspice)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Zest of 1 large or 2 small oranges

Instructions:

Cream the butter with the sugars. Add the olive oil and zest and combine thoroughly. Stir in the egg, vanilla and spices until mixture is smooth.

Stir in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour, mixing until smooth.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line baking sheets with parchment paper. (Alternatively, lightly grease the baking pans.)

Make the coating by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Scoop the dough by tablespoons (a cookie scoop is ideal) and roll into balls, then roll the balls in the sugar coating.

Dough balls and a green bowl of zest-sugar coating — The zest makes the coating a bit thicker, but it doesn't seem

that way once the cookies are baked.

Place the balls on the parchment paper about 1-1/2 inches apart.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges just are starting to brown. Let them cool on the pan on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Make-ahead note: The balls of dough, without the sugar coating, can be frozen. When ready to bake, make the coating and roll the frozen dough in it; no need to defrost, but allow a little extra time for baking.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

baking recipe recipes wet weather citrus gardening Sacramento oranges backyard produce farm to fork rain winter cookies

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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