If you ask me my favorite dessert, it’s ice cream every time, no matter the season.
But this isn’t a post about ice cream (I already have a few of those).
This is a post about a cookie that tastes like an ice cream treat, specifically the lovely orange popsicle with vanilla ice cream on the inside. You know what I’m talking about. And besides straight up frozen custard, it’s one of my favorite frozen desserts, period.
I like it so much that I made a cookie after it. The internet is rife with recipes for an orange Creamsicle cookie (okay, I finally said it), all of which I found didn’t contain enough orange flavor, were too sweet, and/or added a gross amount of orange food coloring. This recipe has none of those things.
This is a lightly sweet (as cookies go), orange-tastic, super soft cookie with no added color weirdness. (If you’re into that sort of thing, you can add orange coloring, but the orange zest adds a bit of yellow-orange color to the dough, enough to make me happy.) For best results, use a high-quality orange extract, and go nuts with the orange zest in the dough and in the rolled sugar. You won’t be disappointed.
And that’s all you’ll get from me. Onto the recipe!
Orange Cream Cookies
Cookies that taste like the frozen treat! Be sure to use good quality orange extract for best results.
you will need:
- 2 ¼ c all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz (1 package) cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 ½ c granulated sugar, plus ¼ c for rolling
- grated zest of 1 medium or large orange, about 1-2 tablespoons (divided use)
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange extract
- ½ c confectioner’s sugar, sifted for lumps
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two heavy-bottomed baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Place confectioner’s sugar and ¼ c granulated sugar into a small bowl, and combine with 1-2 tsp orange zest, breaking apart any clumps (you can use your fingers). Set aside.
- In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter with the cream cheese until creamy, about 1 minute (or 2 minutes by hand with a wooden spoon). Add granulated sugar and remaining orange zest, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, and orange extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
- Form the cookie dough into 2 tablespoon-sized balls. Roll each ball in the orange-sugar mixture, and place dough balls on your lined pan, at least 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball into a fat disc using your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in the sugar rolling mixture to prevent sticking. (The dough will not spread much during baking.)
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the dough no longer looks wet – do not allow to brown.
- Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to cool for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely before storing.
The Crunchy Baker 
Thank you for sharing your recipe, I’d like to try it but can the cream cheese be omitted or is it a must?
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Hi Ria, thanks for reaching out! For this recipe, the cream cheese is a must for the consistency and tang of the cookies – otherwise, you’d get more of an orange sugar cookie, which would still be tasty, but not at all the same thing. Hope that helps!
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