Every Christmas is the same story… at the newsstand my eyes are captured by those beautiful cooking magazines (just to name a few… the famous La cucina Italiana or Più Dolci) that in the December issues really give their all: it is a blooming of splendid photos of very refined desserts, artfully decorated, artistically arranged on tables worthy of AD or Elle Decor.
I believe that my obstinacy in making Christmas cookies comes precisely from these magazines, and from the inner challenge that makes me say: “If they managed to make such beautiful cookies, why shouldn’t I be able to do it too?”. So I roll up my sleeves, and it’s been several years now, I flour the board and start kneading, and finally I concentrate on the topping and decorations that are such a big part of the beauty of the Christmas cookie.
And here I present to you these very fragrant and crunchy cookies, the Orange Caramel Stars.
Ingredients (more than 50 biscuits):
- 200 g of soft butter
- 130 g of sugar
- 5 egg yolks
- grated zest of two oranges
- 280 g of 00 flour
- 90 g of corn starch
- a pinch of salt
In a small bowl, with a grater or with the special citrus peeler (that small tool with the rings on the end that is used to remove the peel). Obtain the grated peel from two ripe oranges.
In a bowl, work the softened butter with the sugar with a wooden spoon until you obtain a smooth mixture. Incorporate, one at a time, the egg yolks and the grated orange peel. Little by little, incorporate the white flour sifted with the corn starch and work until you obtain a smooth and elastic pastry. Wrap it in a cloth and let it rest for an hour. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until you get a sheet of 1 cm thick and with the appropriate cutters cut out your biscuits (the star shape is perfect for the Christmas period, but I have also seen beautiful diamond-shaped ones) and place them, well spaced apart, on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake in a hot oven (175°C for about 20 minutes, keeping an eye on them: they must cook without darkening at the edges. Take them out and let them cool on a surface previously covered with baking paper.
Orange Caramel topping: In a saucepan, melt 100 g of sugar with one or two generous tablespoons of orange juice (obtained from the same oranges you grated earlier). Cook over low heat until the sugar begins to caramelize and thicken. The orange juice will keep your caramel shiny and transparent, as well as giving it a delicate citrus aroma (I also tried with mandarin caramel, if you want an even more delicate version). Turn off the heat and quickly dip the prongs of a fork into the caramel and let the caramel drip vigorously onto the biscuits (I shake the fork directly, since the surface is covered in baking paper!).
This way you will get a shower of caramel drops on your cookies, which will seem covered in very bright amber pearls… truly Christmassy.
p.s: If the caramel starts to harden too much, put it back on the heat for a few minutes until it melts again!
