Blood Orange Cookies (that happen to be vegan)

These pretty little blood orange cookies (that happen to be vegan) are so surprisingly delicious that I’m skipping over a backlog of many un-posted recipes to share them with you. Sitting down to write this is also helping me stay out of the kitchen because I must. stop. eating. them.

Every year, I forget how much I love blood oranges. Then they re-appear in the grocery store, I buy some, and my life is briefly filled with fruity joy.

This year, Trader Joe’s is selling 3 lb bags of mini-blood oranges, and I actually googled if I can freeze them because they are basically the best thing that’s happened to me since I got back to the U.S. four days ago. Apparently, I can. Life is amazing.

(If you’re a random person who doesn’t know me in real life and therefore didn’t know I was gone – thanks for reading! Sorry for the gap in posting. I was in Scandinavia for two weeks carting around 20 undergrads. You can read about it here.)

While I was gone, the Women’s March on Washington happened. I’m sad to have missed it. But one of the baking bloggers I follow didn’t, and he posted this recipe, which he titled specifically “Blood orange glazed cookies for the Women’s March,” which is amazing, and which sounded delicious. (Sorry for the run-on. I’m an English professor, though, so it’s ok.)

Between my discovery of Trader Joe’s wonderful gift to the world, The Optional Kitchen‘s contribution to my recipe files, my unending frustration with the current political climate, and a lazy Sunday afternoon of readjusting to life, these cookies had to be made. And they’re sooooo yummy.

I was skeptical because it turns out they’re vegan, and I haven’t done much experimenting with vegan baking. I assumed they’d be shortbread-ish, which isn’t my favorite. But they’re not crumbly at all. They’re dense, and a bit chewy, and just lovely with the blood orange glaze.

I’ll post the ingredient list below so you can gauge your supplies before deciding to make them, but I’m not going to re-post the directions because I want you to go over and read his original post.

Blood Orange Cookies (from The Optional Kitchen)

Grade: A

For the cookies

• 1 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt (or 1 tsp kosher salt)
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons water

For the glaze

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• Zest of 2 blood oranges (3 of the Trader Joe’s little ones)
• 3-4 Tablespoons blood orange juice

Go read the original post for directions.