Thes soft Blood Orange Cookies are super delicious and refreshing. They get their bright citrusy flavor and naturally pink color from fresh blood oranges. It only takes 10 minutes to prepare the cookie dough and there’s no chilling time needed!
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Blood oranges give these cookies their refreshing flavor and pretty pink color. They are soft batch cookies that get their tender texture from sour cream. Everyone loves them!
Blood oranges are in season from December til March. If you can’t find find blood oranges, you can make these cookies with naval oranges or any citrus you like.
I adapted this recipe from my sour cream lemon cookies. For more citrusy cookies, try my lime cookie recipe and lemon crinkle cookies.
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Refreshing: The vibrant color and fresh taste make these the best blood orange cookies! If you love baking with oranges, try my recipe for chocolate orange cookies and these yummy orange donuts.
- Pretty: These soft oranges have a 100% natural pink color making them perfect for Valentine’s Day.
- Soft: The dough has both sour cream and brown sugar which makes the cookies slightly chewy and super soft.
- Easy: The cookies have a no chill dough and simple two-ingredient icing.
Ingredients
Here are useful notes on some of the ingredients needed to make this blood orange cookie recipe.
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour.
- Baking soda– check the date to make sure it is fresh!
- Granulated sugar-Granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
- Light brown sugar– Make sure your brown sugar is fresh.
- 3 Blood oranges– We’re using blood orange zest in the cookie dough and the glaze. The oils in the zest add lots of refreshing citrus flavor! Zest your orange with a microplane. Be sure to zest the oranges before you slice them. Save the juice for the icing! For another amazing recipe with blood oranges, try my blood orange cheesecake.
- Unsalted butter– Use unsalted, room temperature butter.
- Egg– Use 1 large egg, room temperature egg. Take the egg out of the fridge 1 hour beforehand.
- Vanilla extract-for flavor.
- Sour cream– Sour cream adds flavor and moisture. It makes these cookies super soft. If you have leftover sour cream, try my sour cream donuts and sour cream rhubarb coffee cake.
- Powdered sugar– Also known as confectioner’s sugar. We’ll use this to make the icing.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions And Variations
- Instead of blood oranges, use navel oranges. You won’t get that bright pink color, but you’ll get all the citrus flavor. For another fruity cookie, try my recipe for lemon crinkle cookies or my refreshing grapefruit cookie recipe!
- Swap in buttercream or cream cheese frosting in place of icing.
- Orange tastes delicious with chocolate like in my orange chocolate chip cookies. Feel free to skp the icing and add chocolate chips to the dough instead!
Instructions
Step 1: (Photo 1 above) In a large mixing bowl, rub the zest into the sugars with your fingertips.
Step 2: (Photo 2 above) Mix the butter and sugars with a mixer til light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
Step 3: (Photo 3 above) With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the dry ingredients with the sour cream. Beat until just combined.
Step 4: (Photo 4 above) Scoop out heaping tablespoon sized portions of dough. Roll dough between your palms to smooth. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 5: (Photo 5 above) Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes until edges begin to turn golden. Allow to cool before icing.
Step 6: (Photo 6 above) Stir together the blood orange juice, blood orange zest, and powdered sugar. Drizzle the glaze over the cookies or dunk the tops of the cookies in the glaze.
Expert Tips
I highly recommend topping your blood orange vanilla cookies with the icing! The simple blood orange glaze adds extra sweetness and citrusy flavor.
Allow glaze to set. Once the glaze sets, you can stack and easily transport the cookies.
Recipe FAQs
Blood orange is a citrus fruit that looks like a regular navel orange on the outside. It has a stunning crimson colored flesh inside.
Blood oranges have an orange flavor, but are a little sweeter and more floral and tart than regular oranges.
Store these blood orange cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Freeze unfrosted cookies in an airtight for up to 3 months.
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Blood Orange Cookies
Ingredients
Blood Orange Cookies
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- 2 blood oranges zested, save juice for icing
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream full fat, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Blood Orange Icing
- 1⅓ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons blood orange juice add a few more teaspoons of juice as needed
- 1 tablespoon blood orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Add the orange zest and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips. Add the butter to the sugar. Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed til light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the egg til combined then add the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the dry ingredients with the sour cream.
- Use a 1.5 to 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet. Place them 2" apart.
- Bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before then transferring them to a rack. Allow to cool completely before topping with the glaze.
Blood Orange Glaze
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, blood orange zest and juice with a small whisk or a spoon. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. You can also just dunk the tops of the cookies in the glaze.
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
Rachel
Hello! I’m so excited to add these cookies to my holiday cookie tray. I just want to clarify, while making the cookie dough, the recipe mentions adding the orange juice. However in the list of ingredients, it indicates the juice is used only in the icing. How much orange juice is used for the cookie dough?
Natalie
Hi Rachel, Oh yay so happy you’re planning to make these! They are a favorite and so pretty for the holidays! Thanks for your question and sorry about that- I had originally included orange juice in the dough, but omited it since I found that the juice didn’t add much flavor to the dough. I just updated the recipe. Thanks again for pointing that out and please let me know if you have any other questions!
Kath
So pretty, so fresh, so light and delicious 😋
Natalie
You described them perfectly! Thank you so much Kath 🙂 Have an awesome weekend!
Barbara Briggs Ward
Perfect for Valentine’s Day Baking! Yummy!
Natalie
Most definitely an edible valentine!! 🙂