Turkish shortbread cookies also known as un kurabiyesi are probably the most popular cookies in Turkish cuisine. They are one of the best sweets that are light and melting in your mouth.
These cookies are probably the most common Turkish desserts around the country. We love classic plain un kurabiyesi but today we want to give them a refreshing orange flavor.
These Turkish cookies are not heavy or too greasy. Just like our lemon flavored meltaway cookies, they are definitely melting in your mouth. The orange flavor in these cookies gives a very nice refreshing feeling and make you want to eat more.
I used both orange zest and orange juice for these orange shortbread cookies and I guess this makes these cookies that addictive! I grated the zest finely and it just disappeared in the dough. I think it would be better if I had chopped them finely to have a better texture and to feel them just like nuts when eating. The orange juice gives a very little moistness to these butter cookies and they get lighter this way.
I made these flour cookies, un kurabiyesi for my colleagues and took them to our meeting today to have a sweet start. I guess they all liked these, some of them even asked for the second or third asking gently if there were enough for everyone. They praised the cookies for being as light as cotton and so refreshing! One of them even said she could eat at least ten at a time! I must make more the next time!
So what makes these orange shortbread cookies that light? For one thing, I didn’t use too much sugar in the dough, I wanted it to take the sweetness from orange juice and the powdered sugar on their top. The second and maybe the secret ingredient to make cotton light cookies is corn starch. It helps the cookies melt easily in your mouth. Try and you will see!
My colleagues also liked the scent of orange zest coming from the bowl full of these cookies. It’s because I topped the cookies with grated orange zest after they were cooked and cold.
You can keep these one of the best edible gifts in an air tight container for about a week.
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📖 Recipe
Turkish Shortbread Cookies Un Kurabiyesi
Light cookies flavored with orange zest and orange juice are melting in your mouth!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 27 minutes
- Total Time: 37 minutes
- Yield: 40 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
- 125g butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp vanilla powder
- 1 and ¾ cup all purpose flour (whole wheat works fine too)
- 2 tbsp grated or finely chopped orange zest
- 3 tbsp orange juice
Topping:
- 1 tbsp grated orange zest
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150C.
- Mix all ingredients except toppings and flour.
- Add flour gradually and combine them well until you have a soft and non sticky dough. You might need to add a little more flour or reduce it a little depending on the dough.
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Make small balls from cookie dough and place them on the parchment paper.
- Press gently on each with a fork to have a nice look.
- Bake them for 27 minutes.
- Transfer them on a wire rack and let them cold.
- Sprinkle grated orange zest and sift powdered sugar on each and serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 61
- Sugar: 0.9 g
- Sodium: 0.6 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.7 g
- Protein: 0.6 g
- Cholesterol: 6.7 mg
Keywords: Turkish shortbread cookies, un kurabiyesi
Cakespy says
The texture of these cookies looks just perfect. I can't wait to try this recipe!
Zerrin says
These are one of my favorite cookies. They have a wonderful orange flour and they just melt in your mouth. Would love to hear the result when you try.
Mina says
hi, Zerrin!
Very good cookies, one of the best! I like that you did not include a lot of sugar, which many recipes do. For these I used xylitol instead of white sugar. They were delicious! And also made them with 1/2 whole wheat flour and half of white flour. Also delicious. I also experimented with a few drops of orange essential oil. Nice touch. What I would like to ask you is if these cookies can be frozen? Do you think I should try and freeze them when already baked or before they are baked ... Or to freeze them at all? Thank you and wish you much success with your work.
Zerrin says
Hi Mina,
Thanks for sharing your experience here and happy to hear that you loved the result. I like the idea of using half whole wheat flour and half white flour. We can try to go healthy if we can, right? Never tried orange essential oil, but I can imagine it gave a very nice flavor.
As for your question, well personally I don't like freezing the cookies in general. I can feel that frozen taste and I don't like it. I mean frozen ones are no way as good as fresh ones. So I haven't tried to freezing these ones either.
Thanks again for commenting.
Cheers from Turkey!
Gloria says
What is "vanilla powder"? Did you mean to say vanilla extract?
Zerrin says
Hi Gloria, we don't have vanilla extract here in Turkey, but we have it in powder form. You can use its extract, but then you might need to increase the amount of flour a bit.
torviewtoronto says
looks fabulous 🙂
Blake says
Orange flour, also called orange pomace is the dried and floured orange peels. It is used in gluten free cooking.