You will need
1 x 390 g Ina Paarman’s Choc Chip Cookie Mix
125 g butter, at room temperature
1 extra large egg, at room temperature
grated zest from one orange
1 ½ t (7.5 ml) ground cinnamon
½ t (2.5) almond essence
¼ cup (60 ml) fresh orange juice
whole raw almonds
2 T (30 ml) sugar
½ t (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon
- Grate the zest of the orange first, then it is much easier to squeeze the orange.
- Flattening the cookies after decorating them with the nuts, helps to press the nuts into the dough.
Method
Adjust oven rack to one slot above the middle shelf. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line one large or two smaller baking trays with baking paper.
In a medium size mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the egg, orange zest, cinnamon and almond essence. Add the fresh squeezed orange juice.
Keep on beating for another minute. Don’t be concerned, the mixture will curdle.
Reserve choc chips for another use.
Add dry cookie mix to the creamed mixture.
Use a spatula to blend the ingredients together by hand. When a crumbly mixture forms, use your hand to lightly bring everything together. Roll rounded tablespoons of the mixture into balls. Place them 5 cm apart on the prepared trays. Decorate each cookie with three nuts pressed into them and then flatten them with a glass bottom dipped into flour or some of the cinnamon sugar. Press down quite firmly so they end up being only ½ cm thick.
Mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the cookies.
Bake for ± 12 minutes, until golden.
Remove the baking tray from the oven and leave the cookies on the baking tray to firm up before gently lifting them onto a cooling rack.
Allow cookies to cool down completely before storing in an airtight container.
