This has been one of Rich’s favorite cookies to make for the holidays ever since he found the recipe on allrecipes.com, and, since we were doing a bit of (very) late holiday gathering with family, I thought I’d take a stab at throwing a batch together.
Chewy, spicy, full of maple goodness, and with a hint of citrus (Rich’s signature addition), this is a really nice cookie.
INGREDIENTS
Cookie:
•2 cups flour
•1-1/2 tsp baking powder
•1/4 tsp baking soda
•1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
•1/4 tsp ground cloves
•1/8 tsp nutmeg
•1/4 tsp orange extract
•Grated zest from 1 orange
•1/4 cup butter
•1/4 cup Crisco
•1 cup white sugar
•3 tbsp real maple syrup
•1 egg
For rolling the dough in:
•1/2 cup white sugar
•1/4 cup maple sugar (We order our’s from Vermont Country Store)
Preheat oven to 350º.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, Crisco and 1 cup of white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, orange zest, orange extract, and maple syrup. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients until just mixed.
In a small dish, mix together the white sugar and the maple sugar.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls (I used a small cookie scoop – worked a treat), then roll the balls in the sugar mixture.
Place cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. I did about nine cookies per sheet, and that spacing worked perfectly.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies will be crackly on top and look wet in the middle. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
With my cookie scoop, I got 27 cookies out of a single batch, and the aroma in the kitchen was a thing o’ beauty.