I love orange-flavored chocolate. In fact, I do a little happy dance when I see those chocolate oranges in the store each holiday season. So I combine chocolate and orange together whenever I can. And sometimes…I don’t have time to bake. Enter: no-bake chocolate orange cookies!
To quote Sandra Lee, these cookies are semi-homemade. To make them, you simply dip store-bought shortbread cookies into chocolate you’ve flavored with pure orange oil. You could bake the shortbread cookies from scratch of course. But since I do a lot of baking, I’m okay with taking the occasional shortcut. Especially when it makes it even easier to get my chocolate and orange fix.
For this recipe I use confectionery coating. Like any ingredient, quality varies greatly from brand to brand. I use Merckens candy coatings because they taste good and are gluten-free and tree nut/peanut-free. If you prefer to use real chocolate, remember to temper it before using.
Variation: Orange is my favorite but I really do like any citrus-flavoring with chocolate. For fun, I occasionally use colored white candy coatings for the cookies: yellow for lemon, light green for lime and, you guessed it, orange for orange. For the lemon cookies, I add a tiny pinch of granulated citric acid. This adds a small bite of tartness to the cookies without making them sour.
No Bake Chocolate Orange Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 pound gluten-free confectionery coating (milk, dark, or white)
- 1/4 teaspoon pure orange oil NOT orange extract.
- 36 gluten-free shortbread cookies I use Schar cookies for this recipe.
Instructions
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Place confectionery coatings in microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high for 30 seconds. Remove bowl from microwave and stir. (This disperses hot-spots and prevents the coatings from burning.) Repeat, removing coatings from microwave every 30 seconds to stir, until confectionery coatings melt and no lumps remain.
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Add orange oil. Stir to combine. Taste. The coatings should taste of orange. If the flavor is light, add more orange oil.
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One at a time, dip cookies into candy coating. Using a fork, tap dipped cookie against the side of the bowl to remove excess melted candy. Place dipped cookie onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat. Allow candy to set. If desired, drizzle melted candy coating from a fork over cookies for a drizzle design. Store cookies in an airtight container.
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