Nimmow Baking: Blood Orange Sandwich Cookies

I'm not quite sure if I should be embarrassed by this or not, but I had never tasted a blood orange until this year. I've seen them before, like in the opening credits for the show Dexter, but never had tried one myself. Until, thanks to my pal, Kelsey, I enjoyed freshly squeezed blood orange juice from her new juicer! Thanks for getting me hooked, lady. These oranges are more tart and a little more messy, but they are my new favorite orange. I wanted to bake with them while I had a a giant bag around the house. I decided on a sandwich cookie that had a flavored cream in the middle. I made the right decision, folks. This cookie is good and really rich. One of these cookies will cure any sort of sweet tooth you may be having.

While cutting these oranges you may want to lay down parchment paper or something because they squirt everywhere and the juice is blood red. Sooooo, don't wear white. I've warned you now, so proceed with caution. Don't get me wrong, the juice won't be splattering your walls like blood, but a few several drops will squirt out! These cookies aren't difficult to get done. The hardest part is maybe rolling out the dough, but even that isn't too difficult. Just make sure you keep your surface floured and don't roll the dough too thin. I also think that the cream turned out to be a really pretty pink from the dark red juice. Hope you get a chance to make these, they are worth the effort!

Blood Orange Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients for cookie:

Grated zest of 2 blood oranges

1/4 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large egg yolks

Ingredients for blood orange cream filling:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Directions for cookie:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. In a small bowl, combine blood orange zest with 1 tablespoon sugar, set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl if you need to. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in zest-sugar mixture that you have set aside, then add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.

Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap it up in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. You can also throw it in the freezer for half that time.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out disk to 1/8 inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place about 1 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.

Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon filling onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping flat sides down.

Directions for cream filling:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Also, before you but in the confectioners' sugar I would sift it first just to make sure there won't be any lumps. That way your frosting won't get over-mixed. Next, beat in honey. Add blood orange juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until filling holds together and is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Then you can transfer the cream to a small bowl, cover it, and set aside until ready to use.