Soft bite-sized cookies spiked with orange essence and loaded with white chocolate chunks… irresistible!

No matter the weather outside or the latitude where we reside, as soon as the calendar rolls over to March, I think Spring! The thermometer right now is a wicked reminder that it is not time to get the day pack out for hiking just yet. While I patiently wait for the mercury to rise, I decided to bring some spring flavors into the house. The sunny smiles in the room after eating all of these cookies warmed up our day.

Orange White Chocolate Bites: Makes about 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• generous pinch salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp orange extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 2 tbsp Penzeys dried orange peel
• 1/2 cup good quality white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl mix together sugar, orange extract, egg, milk, and dried orange peel.
4. Stir half of flour into sugar mixture. Mix well.
5. Mix in other half of flour into cookie dough.
6. Mix in chocolate chips.
7. Drop tablespoons of dough about an inch apart onto prepared baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly.
8. Bake cookies for 10 minutes. They should be beginning to brown. Let baked cookies cool completely on wire rack before serving.