A high altitude tested recipe for orange ginger shortbread cookie sticks, drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with crystallized ginger. These orange shortbread cookies are soft, buttery and not too sweet, and are delicious in a Christmas cookie box for the holidays. And instead of making cookie sticks, you can also roll out the dough to use any shape of cookie cutter that you like.
Looking for more high altitude holiday cookie recipes? Don’t miss these cranberry pecan shortbread cookies, decorated gingerbread cookies, and buttercream frosted Christmas tree cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Bake in Advance, Freeze for Later. If you want to make holiday cookies in advance, these freeze beautifully until you’re ready to put together your Christmas cookie boxes.
Easy to Make. The orange shortbread cookie dough comes together quickly in a food processor, and you don’t even have to remember to soften your butter ahead of time, since you’ll use cold butter.
No Spread Recipe. Whether you want to make cookie sticks, or cut the dough with cookie cutters, this is a no spread recipe, so the shape of your cookie cutters will be perfectly preserved as the cookies bake.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude. These chocolate orange cookies will work at any altitude without adjustments, though.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and protein to the cookie dough.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens the dough. The fine texture of powdered sugar makes a softer, more tender cookie than granulated sugar does.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Ginger. Both ground ginger and candied or crystallized ginger adds flavor and a touch of heat.
- Orange Zest. The orange flavor in these orange shortbread cookies comes from freshly grated orange zest, which pairs so nicely with the spicy ginger and bittersweet chocolate.
- Unsalted Butter. Adds fat, moisture, richness and flavor.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Milk. Moistens the dough and binds it together.
- Chocolate Chips. You can use melted chocolate chips or chopped chocolate for the chocolate drizzle on top of the cookies.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, orange zest, ginger and salt until combined.
- With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
- Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll and Cut the Dough
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out into an oval or rectangle measuring 1/2 inch thick and about 4 1/2 inches wide.
- Use a sharp knife, bench scraper or pizza cutter to cut the edges even, then cut into sticks measuring 1/2 inch wide each. Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookie sticks as you can. You should get around 18.
- Carefully transfer the cookie sticks to the baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
- Place the baking sheet with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don’t spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies for 12 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing. Shortbread cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care. It’s best to pick up cookie sticks at the middle, rather than by their ends.
Drizzle with Chocolate
- Melt the chocolate, then scrape the melted chocolate into a disposable piping bag. Snip off a small amount from the tip.
- Pipe the melted chocolate over the top of the cookies. Sprinkle with the candied ginger before the chocolate sets and hardens. I do not recommend dipping these cookies in melted chocolate. With their delicate texture and long shape, shortbread cookie sticks are more susceptible to breaking during the dipping process.
- Let the chocolate harden completely before storing the cookies.
Recipe Variations
Glazed Stamped Orange Shortbread Cookies
- Instead of cutting cookie sticks, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters, or press balls of dough with your favorite cookie stamps. Then brush the cookies with a vanilla orange glaze and let the icing set.
- Get my icing recipe (and use orange juice instead of the milk) and tips for making stamped cookies in this post for stamped chocolate shortbread cookies.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
You can, but it takes a bit more effort than the ease of using a food processor. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in until evenly distributed. Add the vanilla and milk, and use your hands to quickly work the liquid into the crumbs until it all comes together into a soft dough.
Yes, both the cookies and the dough freeze very well. After baking the cookies, store them in an airtight container and freeze for 3-6 months. To make the dough ahead of time, wrap it well in plastic wrap, label the dough, and freeze for 3-6 months until you’re ready to bake your cookies.
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Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookie Sticks
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Food Processor or Pastry Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp freshly grated orange zest
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- ¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp chopped candied/crystallized ginger or candied orange peel
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, orange zest, ginger and salt until combined.
- With the processor running, drop in the pieces of butter, one at at time, pulsing a few times until the butter is evenly distributed, and the dough is moistened and crumbly.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, then process until the dough starts to stick together.
- Dump the dough out onto a clean counter and use your hands to finish bringing the dough together, kneading in any stray bits of flour. The dough should be soft, smooth and supple.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Roll and Cut the Dough
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, place the disk of dough, and dust the top of the dough with flour, too. Roll out into an oval or rectangle measuring 1/2 inch thick and about 4 1/2 inches wide.
- Use a sharp knife, bench scraper or pizza cutter to cut the edges even, then cut into sticks measuring 1/2 inch wide each. Gather up the scraps of dough, roll them out again, and continue cutting as many cookie sticks as you can. You should get around 18.
- Carefully transfer the cookie sticks to the baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
- Place the baking sheet with the cut cookies in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. Chilling the cut cookies helps to ensure they don't spread and hold their shape perfectly while baking.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies for 12 minutes. The tops should be a very pale golden with no dark browning, and you should see tiny flaky layers around the edges.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then very gently transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing. Shortbread cookies are delicate when warm, so handle with care. It's best to pick up cookie sticks at the middle, rather than by their ends.
Drizzle with Chocolate
- Melt the chocolate, then scrape the melted chocolate into a disposable piping bag. Snip off a small amount from the tip.
- Pipe the melted chocolate over the top of the cookies. Sprinkle with the candied ginger before the chocolate sets and hardens.Baker's Note: I do not recommend dipping these cookies in melted chocolate. With their delicate texture and long shape, shortbread cookie sticks are more susceptible to breaking during the dipping process.
- Let the chocolate harden completely before storing the cookies.
Notes
- Making the Dough without a Food Processor: If you don’t have a food processor, you’ll need a large bowl and a pastry cutter. In the bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Scatter with the cold butter pieces and use the pastry cutter to cut the butter in until very finely cut and evenly distributed. Drizzle with the vanilla and milk, then use your hands to work the liquid into the dry ingredients until it forms into a soft dough.
- Storing the Baked Cookies: The baked cookies should be cooled completely then stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. If you won’t be frosting and decorating them immediately, freeze the cookies in an airtight container for 3-6 months.
- Freezing the Dough: To make the dough in advance, wrap the disks of dough in plastic wrap, label them, and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze for 3-6 months. Frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the refrigerator. Then take the dough out of the fridge about 1 hour before you’re ready to roll out the dough. It should still be cool to the touch when you roll it out, but pliable enough to roll without too much difficulty.
These sound wonderful. I love the combination of orange and chocolate, but don’t really like ginger. Can I make these minus the ginger spice in the cookie or will it mess up the ratios in the recipe?
You can definitely leave out the ginger.