Orange-Scented Chocolate Chip Cookies

For some reason, I haven't felt very motivated to bake this month, but the home baked cookie supply had bottomed out weeks ago. So, I decided to cut a deal with my husband. I offered to make cookies if he would clean up the kitchen. And voila! We have (temporarily) replenished our cookie stock. :)

I was very intrigued by this recipe. I'd had orange flavored chocolate before (like those holiday balls that come out each year), and I used to love my mom's orange peel cookies (I've gotta make those again!), so I was very interested to see how these cookies would turn out.

The cookie recipe is very simple and direct, and the only extra thing I needed was the orange zest. It is somewhat similar to the traditional Tollhouse cookie recipe, which is typically my cookie of choice. I was tempted to treat this recipe like I do with the Tollhouse cookies which meant chilling the dough for at least 12 hours. But I decided to go with what the recipe instructed and skipped the chilling. I'm glad I did because these cookies turned out beautifully! They were ready to come out at about 12-13 minutes and yielded about 5 dozen cookies.

 

Of course I also tasted tested the batter and the hint of orange was a neat twist. The fresh out of the oven cookies weren't quite as "orange-y" as I'd expected, but by the next day the orange flavor intensified very nicely. It definitely wasn't overpowering by any means, but it added a really nice touch to the chocolate chip cookie base. I look forward to making these again!