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Stack of orange shortbread cookies of different sizes with cocktails in the background.

Orange Shortbread Cookies with Thyme

Beth Lee
Orange shortbread cookies with fresh thyme are the perfect complement to a holiday cocktail or an afternoon cup of tea. Inspired by a Dorie Greenspan sablé recipe, this cookie has become a classic in our house, especially for the holidays. The dough can be made ahead and frozen so you all you have to do is bake them for your big day.
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 18 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine French
Servings 50 cookies
Calories 54 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest (1 medium orange)
  • cup sugar (reduced from ½ cup in original recipe)
  • 1 stick unsalted butter softened
  • 1 egg yolk
  • cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt (increased from ¾ teaspoon sea salt to 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions
 

  • Place the thyme, orange zest and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Use your hands to mix the thyme and orange zest into the sugar. This ensures the thyme and orange zest end up evenly incorporated throughout the cookie dough.
    Thyme and orange zest mixed into the sugar in the mixing bowl.
  • Beat the butter with the orange thyme sugar at low to medium speed until creamy and well incorporated.
    Butter and sugar mixture creamed in the mixing bowl.
  • Add the egg yolk and beat until just combined, about 1 minute.
    Adding egg yolk to creamed butter sugar mixture in mixing bowl.
  • Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and beat until smooth and well incorporated. The dough will have a lovely sheen at this point.
    Olive oil fully incorporated into the orange shortbread dough.
  • Add the salt and flour and beat until just incorporated.
    Flour and salt are fully incorporated into the shortbread cookie dough.
  • Turn the cookie dough out onto a work surface or piece of parchment paper and press it until it just comes together. Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disk. (or make a log out of one or both of the pieces of dough to make slice and bake cookies).
    Orange shortbread cookie dough on a piece of parchment paper. Half of the sablé-like dough is pressed into a disk and half is rolled into a log.
  • Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of wax parchment paper to about ¼ inch thick. Slide the wax paper–covered disks onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour, until very firm.
    Orange shortbread dough rolled out between two pieces of parchment paper.
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (if making all the cookies at once).
    Orange thyme cocktail cookies cut out and ready to bake on parchment paper.
  • Working with one piece of cookie dough at a time, peel off the top sheet of wax paper. Using a 1 ½-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out the cookies as close together as possible.
  • NOTE: You can reuse the dough remnants but you will need to refreeze the dough to work with it.
  • Arrange the cookies 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 15 - 18 minutes, until they are lightly golden; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. If baking two sheets at a time, your cook time might be a tad longer. Look for the color cues of a slight golden edge. (If your dough is a little thinner than ¼ inch or you use a smaller cookie cutter, reduce the cooking time - start checking them at 10 minutes).
    Baked orange shortbread cookies still on parchment paper.
  • Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
    Cocktail cookies on a cooling rack with fresh thyme and a napkin to the left.

Notes

  1. Since the uncooked dough needs to be nearly frozen to be cut, you can also make the rolled out disks ahead of time and leave in the freezer (if you have room) for longer than the time it takes to initially freeze, up to two weeks or longer. I keep extra large size reclosable bags in the house they will fit in and store them for several days if that fits my schedule best.
  2. OR roll the dough into a log using your hands to form it and then roll it back and forth on the parchment to aid in shaping. Then wrap the log in plastic wrap and freeze. Obviously, this take up much less space but you want get the perfect cut out look. I like both methods!
  3. Play with the size of the cookies you make - for appetizers with a cocktail, I make them pretty small - almost like a quick bite or nibble.
  4. The cookies, once baked, will stay fresh in an airtight container for about 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 54kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 1gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 47mgPotassium: 7mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 69IUVitamin C: 0.4mgCalcium: 3mgIron: 0.3mg
Keyword orange, shortbread, thyme
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