These Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies are soft, lightly sweet, and brightened with fresh orange zest and a touch of vanilla. A thin brushed orange glaze adds just enough citrus flavor without overpowering the cookie, while a sprinkle of gold sugar gives them a simple, elegant finish. Inspired by Lunar New Year especially the Year of the Horse, these cookies celebrate warmth, energy, and good fortune in a way that feels festive without being overly fussy.
Inspired by the Year of the Horse
Each year, I've marked Lunar New Year with a cookie inspired by the flavors and traditions that symbolize the celebration. For the Year of the Dragon, I baked my Orange Sugar Cookies with Orange Buttercream Icing, and for the Year of the Snake, I made Orange Almond Sugar Cookies.
Other years have leaned more into tradition, like my Chinese Almond Cookies and my rich, nutty Black Sesame Butter Cookies. These vanilla orange sugar cookies continue that tradition with a lighter glaze and a touch of gold, keeping the flavors warm and festive without becoming overly elaborate.
A Quick Look: Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies
📇 Recipe Name: Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies
⏱️ Ready In: about ___ minutes (including chill, if any)
🍪 Yield: 30 cookies
🏾 Texture: slightly crispy, soft in the middle, a little crumbly
🍋 Flavor Profile: vanilla, orange zest, citrus
🧮 Difficulty: easy
🙋♀️Get to Know This Cookie
Use the buttons below to get a quick overview or ask questions before you bake.
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Why You'll Love This Cookie
- Fresh orange zest adds bright citrus flavor without overpowering the vanilla base, similar to my orange cookies with vanilla bean icing, which are made with cream cheese for a softer texture.
- A thin brushed glaze gives just enough shine for the gold sugar to adhere.
- Lightly sweet and balanced, so they feel festive without being heavy
- Together, these vanilla orange sugar cookies are simple to decorate and bring just the right festive touch to any occasion.
Key Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter - I use unsalted butter simply because every brand adds different amounts of salt to their salted butter. With unsalted butter, I can control the amount added to my cookies.
- Fresh Orange - Fresh orange juice and zest not only bring out the orange flavor, but I also love seeing the little flecks of zest throughout my cookies.
- Gold Sprinkle Sugar - You can use any color you like but for the Lunar celebration. I chose gold, which symbolizes prosperity, abundance, and success. A little extra good fortune is always welcome.
How to Make Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies
Prep
Before I start mixing, I like to gather all my ingredients so I don't forget anything. I start by weighing the ingredients. Using a scale helps your cookies turn out consistently every time.
Weigh or measure the white sugar and set it aside. Next, weigh or measure the all-purpose flour. Add to the flour the baking powder and salt. Run a whisk through to blend. Now zest and juice your orange.
Mix the Dough
- Step 1: Cube your room temperature butter into the mixer bowl.
- Step 2: Cream the butter until you get soft peaks about 1 minute on a medium mixer speed.
- Step 3: Next, add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes on a medium mixer speed. I stop and scrape down the sides after about the first minute.
- Step 4: Add the orange zest and juice along with the vanilla extract and blend these together.
- Step 5: Now add the egg and blend. Scrape down the bowl and add the flour mixture about a third at a time. Just mix until most of the flour is incorporated.
- Step 6: Move the cookie dough to a pastry mat. You can see there is still some of the flour that is not mixed in but no worries, just knead the dough until all the flour has been absorbed.
Shape and Chill the Dough
- Step 7: After all the flour has been incorporated, shape the dough into a log.
- Step 8: Cut the log in half and flatten each half down into about a 7" disk. If you look closely you can see all the specks of the orange zest in the cookie dough.
- Step 9: Wrap the two disks with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
💡 Tip: Roll the Dough Evenly for a Clear Design
I like to use one-quarter inch bands on my rolling pin because this size matches the depth of my cookie cutter perfectly. When the dough thickness and cutter depth line up, the horse design presses in nice and clear without flattening out. The bands also keep the dough rolled evenly, which helps the cookies bake more consistently and look uniform on the tray.
Roll, Cut-Out and Bake Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Step 10: Take the cookie dough disks out of the refrigerator and let them warm up a little. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar onto the pastry mat and on the rolling pin. If you start rolling out the dough and see cracks around the edges, the dough is still too cold to work with.
- I found this on Amazon called Tolting Icelandic Horse cookie cutter, 1 piece - Bakerlogy. The size is 3" by 3" (7.8 cm by 7.8 cm)
- Step 11: After you have rolled out the cookie dough cut out as many cookies as possible. Gather the excess dough and repeat the rolling and cutting out the cookies. You will do that with both disks until all the cookie dough is used.
- Step 12: I place twelve cut-out cookies to a sheet pan. Bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 7-8 minutes. Once they are out of the oven I leave them on the sheet pan for about 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
Glaze and Decorate
Let the cookies cool completely before decorating. I wanted a very thin glaze, just enough to help the gold sprinkles adhere. I used a pastry brush to lightly coat the top of each cookie.
- Step 13: Mix the powdered sugar and the orange juice together using a whisk. Grab a pastry brush, I used a silicone basting brush.
- Step 14: Lightly brush a thin layer of the orange glaze over the top of each cookie. If you apply too much glaze you will lose the definition of the horse. Then I just lightly sprinkle a little of the gold sugar right on the glaze. It works wonderfully as a glue.
Enjoy!
🫙🍪 Storage Tips
I store them in an airtight container on the countertop. They will last for at least seven to eight days.
Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies FAQs
Yes. The cookies are lightly flavored with orange zest and vanilla, so they taste great on their own. The thin orange glaze is optional and mainly adds a bit of shine and helps the gold sugar stick, but the cookies are still delicious without it.
Yes. This dough is made to hold its shape well, which makes it a good choice for cut-out cookies and detailed designs. Rolling the dough evenly also helps keep the impressions clear during baking. If you enjoy baking shaped holiday cookies, you might also like my Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies or Dutch Sand Tart Cookies. They both bake with clean edges and crisp detail.
The orange flavor is subtle and balanced. Fresh orange zest adds brightness without overpowering the vanilla base, so the cookies taste lightly citrusy rather than strongly orange.
❄️ Can I Freeze This Cookie?
I do not typically freeze cookie dough when testing my recipes, so the instructions above reflect how this cookie was baked and stored. If you'd like to explore general freezing options for this cookie, the AI tool below can provide additional information.
Other Cookies With Orange
If you tried this Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it goes below. Thanks!
Recipe
Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies
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Ingredients
Vanilla Orange Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted
- 1 cup (200 g) Sugar white
- 1 Egg
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) Vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon (6 g) Orange zest
- 1 Tablespoon (17 g) Orange juice
- 3 cups (375 g) All-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon (8 g) Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) Kosher salt
Orange Glaze with Gold Sugar
- 1 cup (120 g) Powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (51 g) Orange juice
- 2 Tablespoons (29.57 g) Gold sugar
Instructions
Making the Cookies
- Weigh or measure the sugar and set it aside. In a separate bowl, weigh or measure the flour. Add the baking powder and salt to the flour and whisk to combine. Zest and juice the large orange, placing the zest and juice into separate bowls.
- Cream the butter for about one minute, or until it forms soft peaks. Add the sugar and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add the vanilla extract, orange juice, and zest. Blend until incorporated. Add the egg and mix until combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, add the flour mixture about one-third at a time. Try not to overmix, as this can produce tough sugar cookies. Some flour may not be fully incorporated at this stage.
- Move the cookie dough to a pastry mat and knead until all the loose flour has been absorbed. Shape the dough into a log and cut it in half. Flatten each half into a disk about 7 inches across and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. This makes the dough easier to roll out later. Refrigerate the disks for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C). Line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. For even thickness, use a rolling pin with bands on the ends to roll the dough to a ¼-inch depth. This thickness allows the horse cookie cutter to leave a clear impression. Transfer the cut-out cookies to the prepared sheet pans. Reroll the excess dough and continue cutting until you have 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes. Let the cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Orange Glaze with Gold Sugar
- Once the cookies have completely cooled, mix the powdered sugar and orange juice in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth and free of lumps. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the cookies with the glaze. Do not apply too much, as it can fill in the lines of the horse design. Lightly sprinkle the gold sugar over the thin glaze.
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Notes
NUTRITION DISCLAIMER
I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist. The nutrition amounts given below are provided through a program and are only a guideline.
Barbara Hall says
I love how the fresh orange zest adds brightness without overpowering the cookie. The light glaze and gold sugar make them feel just a little special.