Pucker up buttercup! These tender, crispy Citrus Meltaways are packed with bright, refreshing citrus flavor! They’re perfect for your holiday cookie tray and for upcoming citrus season!
I always have to share a fruity little number for the holiday season. Our son Sean is not a fan of chocolate. I know. Who’s not a fan of chocolate?
And while I love chocolate, I also really enjoy non-chocolate cookies. Nutty cookies or fruity cookies have always been at the top of my list, as well as Sean’s.
Being in Florida for the winter, we certainly have our pick of gorgeous fruit, especially oranges, lemons and grapefruit, so I decided these Citrus Meltaways deserved a spot, front and center, on our holiday cookie tray this season.
If you’re new to meltaway cookies, they’re delicate, buttery cookies that are just perfect served with a nice hot cup of tea.
These citrus flavored meltaways are light and crispy and as their name states, they melt in your mouth. They’re loaded with fresh lemon and orange zest, so the citrus flavor is unmistakable. They’re bright and tangy and sure to tickle your fancy.
Citrus Meltaway Ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- almond flour
- confectioners’ sugar
- cornstarch
- salt
- unsalted butter
- shortening
- vanilla extract
- orange zest
- lemon zest
- granulated sugar
If you’ve got a non-chocolate fan at your house, I highly recommend these cookies. The dough takes less than 15 minutes to whip up and there’s no chilling time needed for these cookies, so you can bake up a batch in no time flat.
I’ll keep things short and sweet today because I know everyone is busy getting ready for the holidays! I’ll have one more recipe coming your way this Thursday before I sign off for Christmas, so stay tuned.
Hope you guys give these delicious cookies a try. Enjoy!
A Few Cook’s Notes for Citrus Meltaways
This recipe will make about 20 cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cookie scooper.
I use Crisco shortening for this recipe.
I bake the cookies at 325 degrees until the edges turn lightly brown, about 14-16 minutes, depending on your oven.
More Delicious Citrus Recipes to Enjoy
Citrus Meltaways
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup shortening, room temperature, I use Crisco
- 2 tsp. fresh orange zest
- 2 tsp. fresh lemon zest
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for dipping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, almonds, 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, corn starch and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, combine butter and shortening. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add orange and lemon zest and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture, beating until you have a well combined ball of dough.
- Shape the dough into balls with a 1 1/2-inch cookie scooper and place on prepared tray, about 2 inches apart. Flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in the granulated sugar.Bake for 12-14 minutes, until just lightly browned and firm when gently touched. Add the remaining confectioners' sugar to a shallow bowl or pie plate. While the cookies are warm, dip each cookie, top and bottom in the confectioners' sugar. Place cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
I love citrus equally with chocolate goodies, so I love these. The addition of almond flour must add such lovely flavour and texture to these cookies. Can’t wait to try them!
I just know you’d enjoy them Jennifer! Merry Christmas!
It’ s nice to be here in your kitchen again ! Love both ingredients and presentation. Great as always dear Mary Ann ! I wish you and your loved ones to have happy and healthy 2022. !
Same to you Davorka! Hope you have a happy and healthy 2022!
These sound delicious! I just have one problem — my husband can’t eat oranges or orange zest. Do you think that lime zest could replace the orange zest or that I could just double the lemon zest and they would still turn out tasting ok?
Hi Diane. I think a lemon lime combo would be great. If you just went with straight lemon, I would probably would go with 3 teaspoons lemon zest. Enjoy!
Thank you so much!
I recently made your Chocolate Chip Toasted Coconut Scones and my entire family LOVED them so I cannot wait to surprise them with these!!
Enjoy Diane! So happy everyone loved the scones! I’ve got a toasted coconut mango with lime glaze version headed to the blog soon, so stay tuned!
I’m going thru all your recipes. I just found you on Google yesterday. Would it work to leave these cookies round rather than flattening them on the tray? I was thinking to have something like a snowball cookie?
Yay!! I’ve only flattened mine a smidge Jody. Let me know what you end up trying!