Orange Poppy Seed Cookies

I haven't blogged in forever it seems. But I have a good reason. (drum roll please) I MOVED!

Don't worry. I'm still in NYC. I just happened to have moved to Queens. (Yes, Queens is a part of NYC. It's one of the 5 boroughs.)

For those of you who don't know much about NYC, it's like I moved from "You've Got Mail" to "Julie & Julia." (Also, Sesame Street is filmed near my new place.)

Astoria is the neighborhood I live in and it is SO much more lively than where I lived on the Upper West Side. It has a young and diverse feel and so far fits me just fine.

As do my roomies. Yep, I moved in with two girls after living alone for two years. It makes me feel young again. Is that weird? Well, it does. Also, the larger kitchen is a nice perk. Compared to my kitchen in a wall in my last apartment, this kitchen is GINORMOUS!

So, I was busy packing and then cleaning and painting and unpacking. I didn't unpack my kitchen stuff until Sunday (a whole week after I moved in.) My roomies were of course wondering when I was going to bake. I'm glad to report that my first round of baking in my new digs turned out great. One of my room mates had worked long hours yesterday. She told me this morning that coming home to these scrumptious cookies made her day yesterday. Which made my day.

Orange Poppy Seed Cookies (adapted from Moogie & Pap)

Ingredients for the cookies:

2 c. all-purpose flour

3 T. poppy seeds

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c.  & 2 Tbsp. sugar (I added the 2 T extra sugar because my dough wasn't as sweet as I wanted it to be.)

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. finely grated orange zest

Ingredients for the orange sugar:

1/3 c. sugar

1-1/2 tsp. orange zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the egg yolks. Mix in the vanilla and orange zest. With the beaters on low speed, mix in the flour mixture just until the dough starts to come together. Using your hands, work the dough into a ball.

4. To make the orange sugar, whisk the sugar and orange zest in a small bowl. Set aside.

5. Pinch off small clumps of dough and roll into balls about 1" in diameter. Place on the prepared cookie sheets, about 1-1/2" apart. Press down on the balls with your fingers to form rounds that are a scant 1/2" thick. Sprinkle the orange sugar onto the top of each round, pressing down gently so the sugar adheres.

6. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and tops feel mostly firm. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

7. These cookies keep very well. Layer between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

Bake well and prosper!