These delicious spicy blood orange cookies are the perfect treat to make for someone with a sophisticated palate. They are juicy, sweet and tangy, while the spices add a kick! By using oat flour only, these cookies are also gluten free and high in nutrients like fiber and protein.
I like to bake with oat flour as much as I can. Not because it’s gluten free, but because it’s more nutritious than regular flour. And the best part it that oat flour tastes nice! Unlike other wheat flour alternatives out there.
Note: Oats are naturally gluten free, however, sometimes they can get contaminated during processing or packaging. If you cannot tolerate gluten, I recommend you buy oats and oat flour that are certified gluten free.
Thanks to a whole slice of candied blood orange on every cookie, each bite you taste is full of flavor and aroma. The texture of the cookies is crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Spicy blood orange cookies are a perfect snack for the holiday season and beyond. Since they are not overly sweet, they also go well in the midst of summer during a heatwave.
If you don’t like blood oranges, you can use navel, cara cara, tangerine, and even grapefruit slices. Likewise you can also make the cookies without any citrus. But I think they’d be a little too plain.
If you have extra cookies, you can freeze them. Place them in freezer ziplock bags for up to three months. However I would recommend against freezing the candied blood orange slices. When they thaw, they may become too soggy.
See more cookie recipes here.
And lastly, the recipe for the gluten free spicy blood orange cookies:
Spicy Blood Orange Cookies, Gluten Free
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 2 cups (200 g/ 7 oz.) oat flour
- 1 stick (115 g/ 4 oz.) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (60 g/ 2 oz.) icing sugar
- 1 medium egg, room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 tbsp. oat flour for dusting the work surface
For the candied blood orange slices:
- 16 blood orange slices, thinly cut
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (120 ml/ 4 1⁄4 fl.oz.) water
Instructions
For the candied blood orange slices:
- In a large sauce pan, place the water and sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and add the orange slices. Let them simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove slices from the pan and place them on a cold plate (make sure not to overlap them).
For the cookies:
- Sift the oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves into a bowl. Add the salt and whisk them well together.
- In a large bowl, add the butter, and icing sugar. Using a stand mixer at low speed, or a wooden spoon, beat to a creamy and fluffy consistency. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix them in.
- Slowly add the flour into the mixing bowl and continue mixing until well incorporated, forming a soft dough. Gently flatten the dough to about 25 mm (1 inch) thickness. Then wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to 6 mm (¼ inch) thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes, re-rolling the scraps until all the dough is used.
- Place the cookies 25 mm (1 inch) apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate them for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F).
- Take the baking tray from the fridge and place it directly into the pre-heated oven. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and place one orange slice on top of each hot cookie. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
- Note: Using a cookie cutter of 63 mm (2.5 inches) in diameter will result in 16 cookies. The number of cookies will differ with the size of the cookie cutter. Baking times may also differ with the size of the cookie cutter.
