Like any self-respecting vegetarian cook, I have a lot of cookbooks from Mollie Katzen. Mollie’s The Moosewood Cookbook is a classic in vegetarian cookery and I’m lucky enough to own one of the original hand-lettered copies from the 1978 printing.
Last Christmas, a friend gifted me with another Katzen cookbook, Vegetable Heaven, and needing some chocolate the other night, I decided to make the Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. Of course, I doctored it up a little bit, since I just can’t leave a recipe intact.
I must say that I think the orange zest compliments the dark chocolate amazing well and also helps tempter the sweetness in a really pleasant way. Not everyone in my house liked the orange flavor.
Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies – adapted from Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven
1 cup of butter, softened
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of raw sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons of orange zest
1 3/4 cup of while whole flour
1/4 salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups of dark chocolate chips
whole pecans, approx 24
- Cream butter, sugars & vanilla together. Add eggs and beat well. Then add the orange zest.
- Mix in flour, baking soda and salt until thoroughly blended.
- Stir in the the chocolate chips.
- Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.
- Place a whole pecan on top of each cookie.
- Bake on 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.