Orange Blossoms (a favorite recipe)

We have four beautiful orange trees and today they were calling to me. One of my favorite things is to enjoy the fruit from our CITRUS trees here in Arizona. We have a new lemon and lime tree, too, and I’m hoping soon they will produce! But now, it’s time to harvest the rest of these sweet oranges and MAKE something. I went to pick some low hanging fruit and came in with a basket just full of oranges ready to juice, zest, and slice.

Aren’t they beautiful!? Of course, we love our fresh-squeezed orange juice, but today I’m thinking my very favorite orange cookies: Orange Blossoms. My sister, who lives in Utah, made these the other day and sent me a picture…she said “These cookies always remind me of you!” So thank you, dear sister, for the inspiration!

I will warn you now: this post has a lot of pictures! I couldn’t help it…these darlings made such a photogenic subject and I got a little carried away. I even got my husband in on the picture taking (you will see his picture at the end of the post).

I love the simple ingredients: oranges, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, eggs, butter, and buttermilk. We just happened to have some buttermilk on hand that I needed to use up, but if you don’t have buttermilk you can add a little lemon juice to regular milk (see how to do this here).

{Have you used one of these microplane zesters? It’s one of my favorite tools in the kitchen, especially when I’m working with citrus!}

Mix up the ingredients and drop by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Today, I made them regular sized, but if I’m having a ladies’ lunch or tea party, I will make them half this size. And they turn out so cute!

Bake them up and while they are baking, make the orange glaze. It’s a simple mixture of butter, powdered sugar, orange zest, and orange juice. You will want to frost these cookies while they are still warm because the frosting melts and enrobes the cookies a little bit.

I love these little cookies. They are more cake-like and when you bite into them it is just. like. heaven.

Can you see the bits of orange zest in the frosting? There is zest in both the cookie dough AND the frosting, which adds up to a great citrus-y kick of flavor!

Doesn’t this make a pretty picture? It screams luncheon (or tea party) to me! Or the next best thing: which is to wrap them up pretty and take them to some of my favorite people.

OK. That orange slice (out of felt!) and printable is so cute for this little gift! Click here to get instructions on how to make it AND get the free printable!

This is the fantastic photo my husband captured with all the prettiness and citrus colors! I love it.

So, will you go try this recipe and just see if you love these delicious Orange Blossoms as much? And then let me know what you think! Enjoy!

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