Step 1
In a small bowl, combine the Redpath® Golden Yellow Sugar and orange zest. With the back of a spoon or with fingers, rub the zest into the sugar until fragrant. Set aside.
Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, finely chopped toasted walnuts, cornstarch, and salt until well combined.
Step 3
Place the cubed butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add in the sugar mixture and cream until pale and fluffy; at least 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add in the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Step 4
Add in the flour mixture and beat on low speed until a dough forms.
Step 5
Shape dough into a flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place into the fridge to chill; 30 minutes.
Step 6
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 7
Roll the disc between 2 pieces of parchment paper to ¼-inch thickness. With a 2 ½-inch round cutter, cut out as many circles from the dough. Carefully place the circles onto the prepared baking sheet. Gently press the scraps of dough together, wrap back into the plastic wrap, and place them into the fridge to chill and rest; for at least 5 minutes. Reroll the chilled scraps of dough and cut out as many oranges from the dough as possible.
Step 8
Place the cookies into the fridge to chill; at least 15 minutes.
Step 9
Place completely chilled cookies into the preheated oven; 8 to 10 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through the baking time.
Step 10
Remove cookies from the oven. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Step 1
Make the royal icing as directed in the linked recipe, adding the orange extract in place of the vanilla extract.
Step 2
Place ⅓ of the royal icing into a small bowl. With a toothpick, add 1 or 2 drops of the green gel food colouring or until desired green colour is reached. Stir to evenly distribute the food colouring throughout the icing. Place half of the green icing into a piping bag fitted with a #2 or #3 round/plain piping tip.
Step 3
Add a small amount of water, about a ½ to 1 teaspoon at a time, to slightly thin out the remaining icing in the bowl; it should have the consistency of honey. If it gets too thin, add more icing sugar. This will be used to flood the leaf part of the cookie. Place the thinner icing into a piping bag fitted with a #3 or #4 piping tip.
Step 4
Add 2 to 3 drops of orange gel food colouring, or until desired orange colour is reached, to the remaining ⅔ of the icing left in the bowl. Remove half of the orange icing and place it into a piping bag fitted with a #2 or #3 round/plain piping tip.
Step 5
Add a small amount of water, about ½ to 1 teaspoon, in the bowl until the remaining orange icing is the consistency of honey. This will be used to flood the orange part of the cookie. Place this icing into a piping bag fitted with a #3 or #4 piping tip.
Step 6
With the green icing (flooding consistency), pipe an outline and fill the shape of a leaf onto the upper part of the cookie using part of the upper contour of the cookie as one side of the leaf. Repeat process with all the cookies. Going back to the first cookie, outline the remaining edge of the cookie with orange and flood with the orange flooding consistency icing. Repeat process with the remaining cookies.
Step 7
Allow cookies to dry for at least 20 minutes before adding the finishing details. Outline the leaves with the green icing (thicker icing with the piping tip #2 or #3) and add veins to the leaves, if desired. With the orange icing (thicker icing with piping tip #2 or #3), add a couple of small dots, a few smaller than others, along one side of the orange to mimic the dimpling of the skin of an orange.
Step 8
Place the decorated shortbread cookies back onto the wire cooling rack to dry completely; 6 hours or overnight.
*Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
*Any single type of nut or a mixture of nuts you already have in your pantry (e.g. pecans, pistachios, cashews, almonds, and/or peanuts) can be substituted for the walnuts. Toasted sesame seeds would also work to make the recipe nut-free.
*If desired, substitute the vanilla extract with ¼ to ½ teaspoon pure orange extract.
*Any zest that does not get used in the recipe can be placed into a small freezer-safe bag or airtight container and kept in the freezer for future use.
*The orange zest can be substituted with mandarin orange zest.
*Ensure that the piping tips are covered with a damp paper towel or plastic wrap to prevent the royal icing from hardening while waiting for the decorated cookies to dry. If that does happen, use a pin or a toothpick to dislodge the hardened icing from the tip.
*Do not cover iced cookies unless the royal icing is set and completely dry; 6 hours to overnight at room temperature. *Redpath® Dark Brown Sugar can be substituted for the Redpath® Golden Yellow Sugar; however, the resulting dough will be slightly darker and have more caramel undertones than the original recipe.
