From My Southwest Kitchen: Fall Favorite: Sparkling Indian Corn Cookies

My son, Tim, needed a treat for his Boy Scout meeting. A great excuse to bake and try something new. I saw these cookies last year and I made a note to bake them.
These cookies are slice and bake. I don't do that well with slice and bake cookies but these weren't that hard. Instead of rolling the dough into a log you press three different colors of dough into a 9x5-inch loaf pan. You refrigerate the dough then slice and bake. Nothing could be easier.
The dough is made by beating together butter and sugar. You add an egg, orange juice, orange zest and salt. You then add flour and baking soda to the mixture. The dough is then divided into thirds. You color one part of the dough orange with orange paste or gel food color. If you use liquid food coloring it will mess up your dough. For another third of the dough you incorporate melted semisweet chocolate. I recommend melting your chocolate using a double boiler. That way it won't burn. Believe me, burnt chocolate will ruin the best of recipes. Once the dough has been refrigerated, you remove it from the pan. First, you slice the dough crosswise about 1/4 of an inch thick. You then cut each slice into six wedges (they look like little pie pieces) or triangles. Put on a baking sheet and bake. The aroma of these cookies when are baking is wonderful. In fact, two of Becky's friends came over when I was baking the cookies. They told me my house sure smelled good. Remove the cookies for the oven, cool, and then coat with sugar.
These cookies are little gems of goodness. The orange juice and orange zest added such a wonderful flavor to the cookies. You can't eat just one. These cookies are great for any occasion. You just color the dough to match the occasion.

Sparkling Indian Corn Cookies
From Land O Lakes

Ingredients:

1 cup Land O Lakes Butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Orange paste or gel food color
1 (1 ounce) square semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
1. Line bottom and sides of 9x5-inch loaf pan with waxed paper or plastic food wrap. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and 1 cup sugar in large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add egg, orange juice, orange zest and salt. Continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking soda. Beat until well mixed.

Butter and Sugar

Flour and Baking Soda

3. Divide dough into thirds. Press one-third of white dough evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Add a small amount of orange color to another piece of dough. Mix until well blended. Press orange dough evenly over white dough in pan. Incorporate well, the melted chocolate into the remaining one third of the dough. Press the chocolate dough evenly over the orange dough in pan. Cover with plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours or overnight).

White Dough Pressed in Bottom of Pan

Orange Dough

Orange Dough Pressed in Pan

Melting Chocolate in Double Boiler

Chocolate Dough Placed On Top of Orange Dough

4. Place 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl; set aside.
5. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Invert loaf pan to remove dough. Peel off waxed paper. Place layered dough onto cutting surface. Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife. Trim edges to make even, if necessary. Cut each slice into 6 wedges. Place 1-inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Cutting Dough

6. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Immediately place warm cookies in bowl with sugar; roll in sugar to coat. Place cookies onto wire cooling rack. Cool completely.