Orange Sugar Cookies

These sugar cookies get a triple hit of orange: fresh zest, squeezed juice, and orange flower water all go into the butter dough for a fragrant, citrusy cookie that smells incredible even before it’s baked. Orange flower water is the secret ingredient here. It adds a floral, perfumed note that straight orange juice and zest alone can’t deliver.

The dough chills for at least an hour before rolling, which firms up the butter so the cookies hold their cut shapes on the baking sheet instead of spreading into blobs. Roll to ⅛ inch thick for crisp, delicate cookies that snap cleanly and take icing beautifully.

Chef Tips

• Cream the butter and sugar for a full 3 to 5 minutes until genuinely light and fluffy. Undercreaming makes dense, flat cookies.
• Dip your cookie cutters in flour between cuts to prevent sticking. A clean cut means sharper edges on the finished cookie.
• Do NOT let these brown. Pull them from the oven when they’re still pale. They’ll firm up as they cool, and browned sugar cookies taste bitter rather than sweet.
• Cool completely before icing. Warm cookies melt the icing and it slides right off.

Variations

• Use orange extract if you can’t find orange flower water, but use only ½ teaspoon since extract is more concentrated.
• Decorate with a simple orange glaze: powdered sugar thinned with orange juice for a citrus-on-citrus finish.
• Add a drop of food coloring to the icing for festive holiday or party presentations.