It’s no secret that I’m a sucker for chocolate. Not just a plain old boring milk chocolate bar, mind you, but fancy dark chocolate with different flavors infused in it – mint chocolate, dark chocolate cherry, chai chocolate, birthday cake chocolate, coconut chocolate…. The kind where you have to spend more than $3.50 for a small little chocolate bar. Yeah, I’m fancy.
I especially loooove dark chocolate with a hint of orange – dark chocolate with bits and pieces of candied orange peels throughout – it really is a match made in heaven! Since it’s hard for me to get my hands on certain fancy brands, Lindt’s chocolates are one of my go-tos when I’m in the mood to indulge.
I see it as getting my daily vitamin C intake along with some antioxidants – it’s a win-win situation – no?
This cookie is kind of the opposite of what these candy bars are about. Instead of orange infused chocolate, it’s more of an orange cookie with a hint of chocolate. Instead of using regular chocolate chips, I used some 70% dark cacao chips instead to give the cookie a more intense dark chocolate flavor, that way you can eat a few without feeling like you’re going to slip into a sugar coma.
These cookies are soooo soft! They’re soft and moist. Not cakey, and not chewy either. Just soft. Like melt-in-your-mouth soft, thanks to the small amount of cream cheese added to the batter. One thing to note about these cookies is that when you mix everything together, the batter will be SUPER sticky. You’re probably going to think that something went wrong – nope! It’s just the way it is. And for that reason, I strongly suggest mixing everything together with a mixer… unless you’re trying to gain some arm strength – then more power to you, you overachievers.
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3-oz low fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 60% dark cocoa chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Add in the egg an mix until smooth. Add in the orange zest and vanilla, stir until incorporated. Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets. The dough will be very sticky - this is normal! Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown slightly. Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
- Makes 16-18 cookies
Next time when I make these, I think I’m going to roughly chop up the dark chocolate chips prior to adding them into the batter. That way there will be more chocolate dispersed throughout the dough, and the chocolate will be nice and gooey and melty when you take them out of the oven.
Okay, I need to go find myself some chocolate now….
Recipe adapted from Taste and Tell Blog
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