ORANGE ALMOND COOKIES

• Weigh or measure your sugar into a bowl and set it aside. Next, weigh or measure the flour. Add to the flour the baking powder and the salt. Run a whisk through to blend. Now you want to zest and juice the orange.
• Cube the butter into a mixer bowl and cream the butter for about a minute. Add the sugar and on a medium mixer speed mix for 3 minutes. Next, add the egg, orange zest, orange juice, almond extract and a drop of the green coloring gel. Mix until blended. Scrape down the bowl and on a low mixer speed add about a third of the flour at a time. This should only take about a minute. Try not to over mix.
• Dump all the cookie dough onto a pastry mat. It is OK if there is a little flour that did not get incorporated into the dough. You will finish it by kneading the cookie dough until everything has been absorbed. Roll the dough into a log and cut it in half. Flatten each half into a round disk shape and wrap it with plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I also have a snake cookie cutter and a fish turner (check the image above to see what it looks like) to take the cookies off the sheet pan after they are baked.
• Sprinkle powdered sugar onto the pastry mat and place one of the cookie disks unwrapped onto the powdered sugar. I use ¼" rolling pin bands for the depth of the cookies. Roll the dough after it has warmed a little and cut out 8 snake cookies per sheet pan. Bake for 7-9 minutes and let them on the pan for at least 5 minutes before moving them. Sugar cookies are soft until they are completely cooled. Cool cookies before decorating.
• I used a tube of cookie icing to make the line down the snake's back. Place the cookie icing side down onto the sparkling sugar and press lightly. It sticks to the icing nicely. I do all the lines down the snake's back before adding the pair of eyes. I squeeze some of the icing from the tube onto a small plate. With a toothpick, dab a little of the icing onto the back of the candy eye and place it on the head. Repeat with the other eye. Let them dry for 3 hours and they will be stackable in a container. I put parchment paper between the layer.