Baking with Flavor: Persian Orange Blossom Cookies

Persian Orange Blossom Cookies are one of Glass Petal Smoke's signature cookies. Food grade essential oil of neroli and orange zest infuse the pastry, which is accented by a flourish of apricot jam and a smattering of pistachio nuts. The result is an intoxicating pastry that delights the senses before, during and after baking.

The pastry base for Persian Orange Blossom Cookies is modeled after classic thumbprint cookies, but the flavor is decidedly Middle Eastern (and Italian by Moorish influence). You'll be dreaming up fragrant combinations of your own after you taste them. Go forth, be bold and bake with flavor!

Persian Orange Blossom Cookies
Recipe by Michelle Krell Kydd 
Yield:  2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sweet unsalted butter, softened*
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons orange flower water (or 6 drops organic Neroli essential oil)
• zest from one medium orange (organic)
• 1/3 cup apricot jam
• 3/4 cup chopped pistachios, lightly toasted
* The butter can be microwaved on a low setting for 60 seconds or less. You need to “soften” the butter versus liquefying it. 

Instructions:
• Zest the orange skin and set aside.
• In a large bowl, sift flour and salt.
• Separate yolks from egg whites.
• Place egg whites in a sealable bowl and refrigerate.
• Mix sugar into the egg yolks and set aside.
• Mix vanilla, orange flower water (or food grade neroli oil) and butter.
• Add egg yolks to the fragranced butter and mix well.
• Add wet ingredients (with the exception of refrigerated egg whites) to the dry ones and incorporate.
• Divide the dough into two halves, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
• Lightly toast chopped pistachios, in a non-stick skillet for approximately five minutes. You’ll notice an earthy, woody scent when they are done (they should still be green).
• Place nuts in a bowl to cool.
• Line two cookie pans with parchment paper and set aside.
• Place apricot preserves into a small bowl and set aside.
• Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator.
• Take out egg whites and add almond extract, mixing with a fork until blended. Set aside.
• Roll small, one-inch balls of dough and lightly flatten them.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees, dividing racks into thirds.
• Dip the top of the flattened dough ball into egg whites, followed by a light dipping in the chopped pistachios.
• Place the cookie on the baking tray and lightly dent the center with a fingertip (thumb or index finger). The idea is to create a place for the jelly to rest.
• Once all of the cookies have been made, carefully dole out a bit of jam (1/4 tsp. or less) and place it in the center of the cookie. You’ll want to use less than one-quarter teaspoon as the jelly will spread slightly when heated in the oven.
• Bake for 12 minutes, reversing sheets from top to bottom and back to front after first 6 minutes. The cookies should be barely colored on the sides and slightly darker along the edges.
• Wait 10 minutes and transfer to a cookie rack and allow to cool.
• Store cookies in an airtight container, separating each layer with wax or parchment paper so the cookies don’t stick to each other.

Notes:
The flavors in Persian Orange Blossom Cookies meld beautifully a day after the cookies are baked. That shouldn't stop you from eating them on the day they're made. They're wonderful with black tea or coffee (Turkish coffee or espresso are highly recommended).

Use your imagination and think about delicious flavors you've tasted in the past that you'd like to introduce to your baking repertoire. Consider the use of supporting extracts and floral hydrosols (aka floral waters) where appropriate. A ginger oil/lemon zest/vanilla extract pastry base, with a finish of slivered toasted almonds and Mediterranean green fig jam, tempts Glass Petal Smoke.

Hydrosols are distilled essences of plants used to flavor food. Rose water or kewra water (screwpine) are examples and work well with complementary combinations of extracts, nuts and jam. You can find them in Indian and Middle Eastern grocery stores. For food grade essential oils like bergamot (used to flavor Earl Grey Tea) visit LorAnn Oils' website.

Orange Spice Cookies: A Fragrant Recipe

Sweet Spice is an aromatic spice blend sold at Super Green Land, (a supermarket in Dearborn Michigan that is part of a small chain of Middle Eastern supermarkets in the United States). The mixture is similar to anise seed laden Lebanese“cake spice” (ka’ak), but relies on fennel seed for its licorice-like quality. Fennel has a rooty vegetal aroma in comparison to anise, and is less assertive in pastry application when combined with warm spices like cinnamon.

The ingredients in Green Land Sweet Spice include anise, cinnamon, fennel and “spices”, the later of which sounds like a shopkeeper’s secret. When Green Land Sweet Spice is tasted neat, one can detect mahlab (seed of the St. Lucie Cherry which is fragrant and has the taste of bitter almonds), nutmeg and a souring agent that hits the taste buds like salt before turning tart.

The combination of fennel seed with orange peel imparts a delicate caramel-like effect that is nothing short of sublime. It is an excellent example of a synergistic flavor pairing that works brilliantly in a cookie recipe. Glass Petal Smoke decided to use the master dough from December's Lebanese Cake Spice Cookie recipe as a base for Green Land Sweet Spice blend.

If you have access to food grade essential oil of neroli two drops will add a delicate touch of floralcy to the overall flavor of the cookies. Note to perfumistas: this flavor suggestion creates a Guerlainade effect in the raw dough that disappears once the cookies have been baked. The woody, amber-like quality of Shalimar is instantly recognizable.

Glass Petal Smoke suggests allowing the cookies to rest in a sealed container a day before serving. This allows the orange zest to mellow so the other flavors can shine through. The addictive crunch of this cookie makes it impossible to east "just one" when accompanied by a good cup of coffee or tea. 

Orange Spice Cookies

Recipe by Michelle Krell Kydd

Yield: 60 cookies

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (sifted)

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

4 ounces (one stick) unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)

1 tablespoon Mexican vanilla extract

⅔ cup organic granulated sugar

1 organic egg (room temperature)

2 tablespoon Green Land Sweet Spice (a blend)

Grated zest of one small organic orange

Directions:

·      Cut a 20 inch piece of wax paper and set aside. This will be used to chill the cookie dough.

·      Sift flour, salt, baking powder and sweet spice mixture in a large bowl. Set aside

·      In a small bowl grate orange peel using a zester.

·      Add egg to the orange zest and incorporate.

·      Blend vanilla extract into the egg and zest mixture.

·      In another small glass bowl microwave the butter for 15 seconds (or enough time to liquefy without heating it).

·      Add sugar to butter and incorporate.

·      Mix butter mixture with the egg mixture.

·      Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring gently with a silicone spatula.

·      Mix the dough thoroughly with your hands. It will have a soft consistency.

·      Using a tablespoon, spoon out dough onto the middle third of a sheet of wax paper and form a 12 inch oblong roll. The dough should be one inch thick and 2 ½ inches wide.

·      Fold the bottom third of the wax paper over the dough, taking care to keep the shape of the dough to the specified measurements. Use your hands to smooth the paper over the dough.

·      Fold the top third of the wax paper over the dough and seal the dough at the ends.

·      Put the wax paper covered dough in the freezer for 1 ½ to 2 hours (or until it is firm). It should be chilled so you can slice through it (not rock hard).

·      Divide oven rack into thirds.

·      Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

·      Line two cookie trays with parchment paper.

·      Unwrap the dough on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife cut ¼ inch slices of dough and place cookies 1 inch apart on each cookie sheet.

·      Bake for 8-10 minutes, reversing trays from top to bottom and front and back to ensure even baking.

·      These cookies will be a light golden color when they are done. The edges will be a soft brown.

·      Allow cookies to cool. Transfer to a wire cooling rack when they are no longer hot.

·      Store in an airtight container.

Notes:

The website for Green Land Food is limited. Glass Petal Smoke recommends using Yelp to see if there is a Green Land market in your area. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

If you live near or plan to visit southeast Michigan make sure to visit Super Green Land in Dearborn. It is located on Warren Avenue where many other flavor adventures await those with a curious palate and a desire to learn more about Middle Eastern food culture.

Image of Orange Blossom by Meejanski via Creative Commons.

Image of Fennel Seeds by Jeeheon Cho via Creative Commons.