Orange Creamsicle Cookies — These cookies are so soft, buttery, tender, and just melt in your mouth! The dough is lightly perfumed with orange zest and there’s loads of white chocolate in every bite. They remind me of an Orange Creamsicle, but in cookie form!
Orange Creamsicle Cookie Recipe
I love Orange Julius, Orange Creamsicles, Orange PushUps — anything that’s creamy and orangey!
And I love these cookies because they’re creamy, orangey, and loaded with melted white chocolate.
I’m in love with how soft, moist, and tender the orange creamsicle cookies are. The cookie dough uses a splash of cream, which tenderizes the dough, and a bit of cornstarch is added to make the cookies softbatch-style.
The pop of orange flavor is just enough, and it’s the perfect complement to the buttery, rich dough. The tangy citrus plays perfectly off the sweet white chocolate chips, which add bursts of sweetness and texture.
Ingredients in Orange Creamsicle Cookies
To make these delicious orange white chocolate cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar and granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract, almond extract, and optional orange extract
- Heavy cream or half and half
- Orange zest
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- White chocolate chips
Orange Zest Tip
When zesting an orange, either use a microplane or the finest blade on a box grater. Take off only the orange-colored part of the peel. The white part (pith)can be very bitter, and no one wants bitter cookies.
I used 2 tablespoons of zest, yielded from 1 large orange, zested in entirety. My orange was a bald, white globe when I was done with it.
How to Make Orange Creamsicle Cookies
These orange white chocolate chip cookies are easy to prepare, but you must allow time for the dough to chill before baking it. Here are the basic recipe steps:
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and extracts until very light and fluffy.
- Add the cream, orange zest, and mix on medium speed until incorporated.
- Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and mix on low speed until just incorporated.
- Add the white chocolate chips and mix on low speed until just incorporated.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough into balls, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.
- Bake the cookie dough for about until the edges are set and tops are just beginning to set.
Recipe FAQs
I’ve used cornstarch in cookies more than 20 times, including Chocolate Chunk Cookies, M&Ms Cookies, Vanilla Sandwich Cookies, and more. It helps create softbatch-style cookies that are so soft, moist, and supple, without turning cakey.
I used almond extract in the cookies, and I just love baking with it because it lends such a unique flavor profile, unlike anything you can get from any other extract. Slightly sweet, so fragrant, and if you’ve never used it, it’s a must-try. It’s kept near the vanilla extract and is usually about half the price.
While I’m sure you could omit it, it helps create additional depth of flavor that’s rich and luxurious.
I don’t recommend adding orange juice to the orange cream cookie dough. It’ll water it down, you’ll have to add more flour, and because OJ is such a strong acid, it’ll continue to ‘dissolve’ the dough, causing it to become more limp, runny, and soupy as time passes.
Yes! You must chill the dough for at least 3 hours. Do not bake with warm dough because the cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter, and you’ll likely end up with orange puddles or pancakes.
I baked for just over 8 minutes, which falls on the underbaking side of the spectrum, and ensures the cookies stay soft for up to 1 week (mine don’t last past 12 hours).
If you prefer more well-done cookies, bake for closer to 10 minutes. However, these cookies are supposed to be supremely soft, tender, and you want them to just melt in your mouth.
Tips for Making Creamsicle Cookies
This orange cream cookie recipe is very easy to make, but here are a few final tips to ensure perfect cookies every time!
Adding orange extract:
Ironically, I didn’t use orange extract to make these orange cream cookies. I relied exclusively from orange zest to create the orange flavor profile. The cookies are orangey enough, without being overpowering.
However, if you’d prefer a more in-your-face pop of orange flavor, use orange extract.
Substituting the white chocolate chips:
If you don’t have white chocolate chips on hand, you may chop up a bar of white chocolate or use white chocolate chunks instead.
You can also replace the white chocolate chips with dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips for a different flavor altogether.
Omitting the cornstarch:
If you don’t have cornstarch on hand or don’t want to buy a box just to use 2 teaspoons in this recipe, you may omit it. Your cookies won’t be as soft and tender as mine, but they’ll still taste like a Creamsicle!
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Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 to 2 teaspoons orange extract, optional (I did not use and cookies were still ‘orangey’ enough, but for extra orange flavor, use it)
- 2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- one 10-ounce bag white chocolate chips, about 1 1/2 heaping cups
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), cream together the butter, sugars, egg, and extracts on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the cream, zest, and mix on medium speed until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, corn starch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don’t over mix.
- Add the white chocolate chips, and mix on low speed until just incorporated.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two-tablespoon mounds (I made 20). Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Do not overbake because cookies will firm up as they cool. Baking longer than 10 minutes could result in cookies with overly browned undersides.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooking.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Orange Desserts:
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Olive Oil Orange Cake — A super soft and moist cake that’s made with olive oil!! Orange zest, orange juice, and Gran Marnier add tons of AMAZING orange flavor to this easy, no-mixer cake that’s unique, refined, and INCREDIBLE!!
Orange Poke Cake with Honey-Orange Glaze – Bold orange flavor in this easy, 100% scratch, no mixer poke cake! Orange juice, orange extract, and orange zest make this cake the best way ever to get your Vitamin C!!
Orange Crush Poke Cake – Bold Orange Crush flavor in this easy cake that’s super moist and light! The kid in all of us will love this orange tie-dyed cake!
The BEST Glazed Orange Rolls — These homemade orange rolls are filled with a buttery orange filling and are topped with a simple orange glaze. They can be prepped the night before, if needed.
Cranberry Orange Quick Bread — The fresh cranberries in this cranberry orange bread contrast nicely with the sweet orange glaze, making it the perfect blend of sweet and tart!
orange creamsicle cookies
There you go again with those pictures of gooey melted chocolate chips that makes my mouth water :) You make those look better than anyone else! I make a very similar cookie that is a family favorite, but you’ve convinced me to try out your recipe . . . plus anything with almond extract is divine.
Oh that’s awesome that you have a similar recipe. If you’ve blogged about it and have a link, LMK! And thanks for the praise about my cookie photography skills…I appreciate it :)
Yummm, these cookies look incredibly delish!!
amazing looking! I want now now!
oh my gosh YES.
I love creamsicle anything too.
I made (if you get a chance) a creamsicle cheesecake, years ago, that was soo good.
You need to see this; I’m going to re-do it with a few tweaks.
I LOVE these cookies AV–these are going in the friday links–the world must know about them. lol
You know what, I do have a vague memory of that cheesecake! These cookies will never get the attn the a choc or a PB cookie will, but for those of us who can appreciate something a little different, these flavors are incredible! And they’re supremely soft and underbaked, the best kind of cookie :) Thanks in advance if you decide to feature on your linky love!
Ooooh. I can tell from that overhead shot we like our cookies baked al dente. These are fabulous! Break out the citrus!
Al dente. Great way to put it :) And thanks for pinning!
I made orange creamsicle cookies a long time ago and I lvoed them and actually remember thinking that I should have adde white chocolate chips! These look and sound FANTASTIC. It weird that I love dreamsicle flavors but I rarely dig into an orange on its own. Or maybe that isn’t all that weird. Oranges are a total pain to peel!
Oranges are a total pain to peel – agreed! Which is why it’s not a fruit I gravitate toward naturally. When I was growing up I ate a ton of them and loved them but my mom peeled them for me…LOL I also think certain climates just make you crave certain things. And in MN, it wasn’t like we had local persimmon and fresh kumquats in November. We had apples, oranges & bananas.
Love orange! I bet these taste amazing :)
Aaaaa this is soooo awesome!!! So creative! I loved creamsicles as a kid, haven’t really had them since but I definitely love orange flavoured desserts nowadays. I’ve never tried orange extract but I bet it’s the perfect addition to these cookies.
Ooh, I like the concept. So many cookies seem to get in a variation-on-chocolate-chip rut–but this would be fun and different!
These look so delicious. Growing up, we used to go to the local mall and buy an Orange Juilius every time we were there and oh my they were good! We would always ask them what was in the secret powder and they would never tell – of course! :-) My boys love Orange Julius type stuff as well so I know these will be loved. My hubby likes it, too, so I am so making these. I typically use the arrowroot powder as a sub for cornstarch and all is well. I so dig the winter citrus. Around here we have the Japanese mandarins and I love them. I can eat 10 at one sitting – no joke. They are that good!
Japanese mandarins are so good when they’re in season! I used to know someone with a tree and they’d bring them to a park group we’d go to when Skylar was a baby. Nice memories :)
And glad to hear that the arrowroot powder is working for you for the cornstarch. And yes, I love Orange Julius’ too. Could guzzle those things! LMK if you try these!
As always a nice surprise on your blog. Orange cookies sound like a dream.
This flavour is super fun!!
I love the addition of almond extract. Definitely my favorite :)
I am just getting into using white chocolate and citrus. I know I have said this before, but growing up it was straight chocolate desserts. Nothing citrus and nothing white chocolate, but with winter and the holiday season approaching I really want to make a few white chocolate desserts. They are so festive, plus I personally am loving white chocolate!
These are one unique and awesome looking cookie and agree with on going with a soft batch cookie. It is perfect for the delicate flavors of citrus and white chocolate!
Around the holidays every year, I go a little nuts with the white chocolate. I don’t know why, but everything I reach for or think about making, uses it! I have to try to tell myself to tone it down b/c I know not everyone loves it. But somethings just need it…like I feel like milk or semisweet wouldnt really ‘go’ very well in these. And I don’t like orange-flavored chocolates. Weird, huh. But I love the orange WITH the white choc chips. Picky much? :)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cookie quite like this–very unique!! Orange zest, almond and white chocolate sounds delicious together. Those melty chips always get me–such a strong visual appeal! Orange Julius has been around for a long time–I remember when they only had orange and strawberry available and I see their menu has really expanded.
Orange zest, almond and white chocolate sounds delicious together = they are Paula! So good! I know these cookies will never become ‘popular’ because they don’t have the buzzword ingredients but for a certain person who can appreciate something that’s not PB or regular chocolate, they are amazing! I know you would love them!
I’ll be honest – I prefer white chocolate over any kind of milk/dark chocolate and so does Jason! It’s been a long time since I baked some cookies though – will have to make this soon. Plus, I have a bag of oranges to use up too!
Well how’s that for lucky that you have oranges AND love white choc! :)