If you love spices, oranges  and sandy cookies you’re going to love this recipe.  I used the canestrelli recipe as a base, but I added honey, cinnamon, grated orange zest and mixed spice (pumpkin spice mix). The result is a delicious melt-in-your-mouth cookie that smells divine – actually, your whole house will smell divine when you bake a batch of these cookies!

Perfect with tea or coffee, they’re also very satisfying on their own. The combination of spices and orange makes them perfect for Christmas, so if you’re looking for an alternative to the classic gingerbread cookies this might be a good choice.

Happy baking!

Notes & Tips

• To boil the egg yolks, you can either boil whole eggs, then discard the boiled egg white (use it to make egg salad), or you can boil the egg yolks separately and use the egg whites to make other sweets, like these and these, or an omelette. To boil only the egg yolks: bring water to the boil in a small pan. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, then place the egg yolks gently into the boiling water using a spoon. Boil for 5 minutes, then drain and let cool.
• After cutting cookies, you’ll have some leftover scraps of dough. Press them all together, place them between two pieces of cling film and roll them into a disk. Refrigerate for at least half an hour (or pop them into the freezer for 10 minutes) then cut more cookies out of the dough and bake them.
• These cookies improve with time and are best eaten at least a day after they’ve been baked. If you can, leave them in their box for a week before eating them. I managed to let them last for 2 weeks, and they were still excellent.
• If you’re making these cookies as a gift, you could lightly dust them with icing sugar as a simple decoration; I wouldn’t ice them with royal icing though, because  their sandy texture would contrast too much with the crispness of the icing.

Orange & spice shortbread

(makes about 30-32 cookies)

80 gr. unsalted butter, at room temperature (2.9 oz.)

30 gr. vanilla sugar (1 oz.)

1 pinch of salt

1 tablespoon honey

2 egg yolks, boiled

Grated zest of 1/2 orange

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (pumpkin spice mix)

80 gr. plain (all purpose) flour (2.9 oz.)

40 gr. potato flour (1.4 oz.)

• In a medium bowl, beat butter, sugar, salt and honey using a fork or wooden spoon, until well combined.
• Press the egg yolks through a fine-mesh strainer and pour over the butter mixture, then beat until well combined. Don’t skip the egg-straining, or you’ll end up with lumps of egg yolk in your dough.
• In a bowl mix the two flours with a whisk, then quickly incorporate them to the butter mix, taking care not to overwork (and warm) the dough.
• Sandwich the dough between two pieces of cling film, or parchment paper, then pat flat into a disk and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 160° C (320° F).
• Roll the dough, still sandwiched between the two pieces of cling film or parchment paper, to 6 mm thickness (1/4 inch), and cut the cookies with a small star-shaped cookie cutter about 5 cm wide (slightly less than 2 inches).
• Place the cookies on baking trays lined with parchment paper and bake for 18-20 minutes- they mustn’t colour much.
• Let the cookies cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer onto a wire rack using a spatula or palette knife – they tend to break easily – until completely cool.
• Store in a tin box or airtight container in a dark, cool place (not in the fridge).

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