Orange Chocolate Chip Doodles

Heater fixed: check!

Dinner: Slow cooking!

6 inches of snow: (unexpected, but) check!

Driveway: shoveled!

What's the only thing left to do on a cold snowy day? Bake cookies!

I saw this recipe for Orange Cheesecake Cookies the other day on evilshenanigans.com

Kelly (the author of the post) writes: "There is something of a joke in my family about cream cheese. You see, my father loves the stuff. I’ve seen him eat it on crackers, with salsa, on chips, or even plain. Whenever he tries a new recipe, inevitably, his first comment is that it does not have enough cream cheese. (Most of the time he is joking … we think.) He was the reason, last holiday season, I tried to find a cookie that featured cream cheese prominently."

When I read this a couple things popped into my head.

1. I completely understand where her Dad is coming from. It's my humble opinion that cream cheese was sent directly from God's dairy farm to my taste buds;

2. Wherever she's going with this recipe, I want to be a part of it; and

3. What's wrong with eating it plain?

Anyway, the pictures looked yummy...

(Photo credit: evilshenanigans.com)

...but the cookies looked a little gooey in the middle. Definitely not a bad thing usually, but with the whole freezing/transporting/stacking on cookie stands thing. I thought that they may stick together or not retain their shape. So I made a few adjustments.

The result? A perfectly light, slightly orange, slightly chocolaty, chewy yet stable cookie!

The cream cheese kept the inside soft and chewy...almost reminiscent of an undercooked sugar cookie, yet they have enough body to keep them from sticking together when stacked.

The Recipe

(adapted from Orange Cheesecake Cookies)

my adjustments are in italics if you're curious

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)

1/2 teaspoon orange extract

1 teaspoon fresh orange zest (you could also use lemon or lime)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (instead of 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted for drizzle)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375 and prepare two sheet pans with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of a mixer cream the butter and cream cheese until they are well combined. Beat in egg.

3. Add the sugar, vanilla, orange extract, and citrus zest and blend until the ingredients are well combined but not fluffy. Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated.

4. Stir in mini chocolate chips.

5. Using a cookie scoop (optional), scoop the dough onto the prepared sheet pans. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the tops are slightly puffed.

6. Cool on the pan for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

p.s. Now accepting applications for a better name that "Orange Chocolate Chip Doodles."

p.p.s. Doodle: (noun) Random word used by the boy and I to describe anything that a) does not have a better name; b) is small or left over; c) is cute yet sad.