Orange Cookies#2

These orange cookies use sugar replacement instead of granulated sugar, making them a solid option for anyone watching their sugar intake. But they don’t taste like diet cookies. Fresh orange juice and grated zest from a whole orange deliver bold citrus flavor that does most of the work sugar normally handles in making cookies taste interesting.

The buttermilk is the other key player. Its acidity tenderizes the dough and reacts with the baking soda to give these cookies a lighter, more cake-like texture. Without it, sugar-free cookies can turn out dense and flat. The tang of the buttermilk also balances the sweetness of the orange, keeping the flavor from going one-dimensional.

Alternate the dry ingredients and the buttermilk when adding them to the creamed mixture. Dumping everything in at once overworks the gluten and makes the cookies tough. A few additions back and forth keeps the batter tender.

Pro Tips

• Use every part of the orange: juice, zest, and all. The zest holds the aromatic oils that give the strongest orange flavor. Just avoid the white pith, which is bitter.
• Remove any seeds from the juice before adding it to the batter. Easy to miss but unpleasant to bite into.
• These spread during baking, so space them 2 to 3 inches apart on the sheet.
• Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring. They’re soft and fragile when hot.

Variations

• Add a light orange glaze after cooling: mix powdered sugar replacement with a splash of orange juice and drizzle.
• Fold in dried cranberries or golden raisins for a fruity, chewy addition.
• Use lemon instead of orange for a tart, lemony version with the same technique.