Maylee at Beyond Gumbo 
I can’t believe that it is Mardi Gras season again here in Louisiana. Our world is transformed with parades, balls, Mardi Gras events, beads and colorful pastries. Mardi Gras Day is sneaking up on us quickly this year — the time to celebrate is now as Mardi Gras Day is Tuesday, February 13. While KIng Cakes are considered to be the time-honored Mardi Gras pastry, just about any confection can be turned a Mardi Gras themed dessert these days. Just decorate it with the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold and green icing and sprinkles. This year I am making “Orange Sour Cream Cookies” for my Mardi Gras contribution.
When is Mardi Gras?
Just like Easter, Mardi Gras is a movable holiday. It represents a number of weeks of feasting and celebration which ends with the beginning of Lent. And Lent is 47 days before Easter. Easter is almost always the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring Equinox. Did you want to know all that? For the Catholic community, Lent is a time of penitence and fasting. Mardi Gras ends on “Fat Tuesday” with the most feasting and celebrations. Then Ash Wednesday ushers in Lent on the next day. I am not Catholic, but I still enjoy Mardi Gras celebrations. Go figure.
What are the Mardi Gras colors?
Why are purple, gold and green colors used during Mardi Gras? That tradition dates back to the first Rex Krewe and parade in New Orleans in 1872 to honor the visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanoff. The King of Carnival designated that the balconies were to be draped in purple, green and gold although he never gave a reason why. In 1892, the Rex parade theme “Symbolism of Colors” gave meaning to these colors. Purple represents Justice. Green represents Faith. Gold represents Power. Since that time, anything to do with Mardi Gras is decorated in those colors.
Vintage Cookie Recipe
Good cookie recipes are timeless and I really like this cookie. My “Orange Sour Cream Cookie” recipe is just a great, soft sugar cookie which I found in a vintage cookbook from my grandmother. The sour cream adds a little tartness and the orange zest (from the satsumas growing in my garden) adds a nice orange “pop.” Confectioners’ sugar icing adds sweetness. When purple, gold and green sprinkles are added on top, this becomes in a knock-out Mardi Gras cookie. The cookie is not so sweet making it a nice change from other rich holiday cookies.
Plus, you can adapt this cookie for any holiday such as Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas. I am sure that my ancesters did not celebrate Mardi Gras or even knew what it was. So, just change the colors of the spinkles for the celebration you are having.
Cookbook Inspiration
I found this recipe while browsing through a vintage cookbook called, “Granddaughter’s Inglenook Cookbook”, published in 1942. The cookbook came from my mother. And my grandmother also had one of these cookbooks, too. It was a “community” cookbook and includes recipes contributed by many midwestern farm housewives. It includes hundreds of recipes written exactly as they made the dish — I doubt that any of them had been put through a “test kitchen.” Nevertheless, I get lots of ideas from this cookbook and use it as a cross-check for cooking projects.
What is an inglenook? An “inglenook” is a recessed corner by a large open fireplace. The folks who contributed these recipes to this cookbook were originally farmers from Pennsylvania who were settlers from Switzerland and the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. I guess they must have had inglenooks in their farm homes in Pennsylvania. Just speculating; but I always wondered how the recipe book got its name.
Orange Sour Cream Cookie Recipe
The sour cream cookies have the usual ingredients for sugar cookies. Plus, orange zest and juice give this cookie a great citrus flavor. I used a satsuma from my garden for the zest and juice. However, a navel orange works well, too. Or use orange juice and dry orange peel. Sour cream helps make the cookies soft. Plus, when the sour cream mixes with the baking soda, these cookies puff up. For my final recipe, I used only one egg and one egg yolk. (With 2 eggs, the dough was too dry.)
I used an electric mixer to mix up the cookie dough, as I wanted the cookies to be light an airy. Beat the softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and yolk. Blend in the orange juice, zest and vanilla extract. In another bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Add to cookie dough alternately with sour cream — beginning and ending with flour. Mixing the dough up goes quickly once the oranges are zested and juiced.
Let the dough chill for an hour; it is rather sticky. Then use two tablespoons to scoop out the dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. These are medium-sized cookies, about the size of walnuts and the recipe makes 24 cookies. Bake in a hot, 375 degree oven until just beginning to brown on the bottoms. The soft cookies will spread out somewhat and puff up. As usual, don’t overbake the cookies.
Purple, Gold and Green Decorations
These cookies are rather bland unless they are iced and decorated. I have amassed quite a stash of colored sugar sprinkles over past years from other baking projects. Plus, this sugar goes a long ways – you don’t need much and it can be stored a long time. Mardi Gras colors are purple, gold and green. And so, I searched my kitchen cabinets for the correct colors.
Powderd Sugar Glaze
A simple confectioners’ sugar glaze works well to ice the cookies. To make the glaze, mix powdered sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and just a bit of milk together. You will probably have to add either more milk or more powdered sugar to get the right consistency. The icing needs to harden on the cookies but not before you add the colored sprinkles. The icing should be very thick but still strand off a spoon. Work quickly and ice one cookie at a time.
After the icing hardens, store in an air tight container. The cookies will stay fresh for a few days.
Here I am, enjoying my cookies with some coffee. And I love these Mardi Gras beads which we caught at a parade several years ago. Well, I don’t need more beads, but it is always exciting to go and watch the parades with the all dazzling costumed “royalty” and attendents, masked riders on floats, kewe themes, beads, riders on horses and marching bands. Let’s keep the Mardi Gras spirit going. It makes a nice break from the gravity of the world in which we live.
We had our own Mardi Gras ball several years at a music festival which we were hosting. Coincidentally, the event came during Mardi Gras. And so our queen searched around and found a queen’s costume from a past Mardi Gras Krewe ball somewhere. Here she is modeling her gown. It made a fitting addition to our Mardi Gras parade and event. A little revelry always makes for a fun time!
Anyway, enjoy the cookie recipe. Rather than bringing a King Cake to share, surprise your office group one morning by bringing these cookies. And you can explain why they are iced in purple, gold and green!
Orange Sour Cream Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp orange zest from fresh orange
- 2 Tbsp orange juice, from fresh orange
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Icing Ingredients
- 1 tsp orange zest from fresh orange
- 2 Tbsp orange juice
- 1 Tbsp milk, plus more if needed
- 2 cups powdered sugar, more if needed
- purple, gold and green sprinkles
Method and Steps
- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees (when ready to bake cookies). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In large mixing bowl of electric mixer, combine softened butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until soft and blended.
- Add orange zest, orange juice, whole eggs and additional egg yolk and vanilla extract. Continue to beat on medium speed until creamy.
- In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- On low speed, add flour alternately with sour cream to batter in mixing bowl, beginning and ending with flour. Do not over-mix.
- Place in refrigerator and chill for one hour.
- Drop by large spoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Dough should be about the size of walnuts.
- Bake for 8 minutes until bottoms of cookies are just beginning to brown.
- Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheets for five minutes. Using a sharp spatula, remove and cool completely on wire rack.
- For icing, blend orange zest, orange juice and 1 Tbsp with milk with 2 cups powdered sugar. Whip with a spoon until creamy. Add additional milk, if needed, by small spoonfuls to get the proper consistency. If needed, add a few spoons of powdered sugar. The icing should be thick and strand slowly when poured from a spoon.
- Spread the icing onto each cookie and immediately add either purple, gold or green sprinkles.
- Store in an airtight container.
Used with Permission from the Brethren Publishing House, Elgin, Illinois. adapted from “Sour Cream Cookies” in “Grandaughter’s Inglenook Cookbook” 1942.
at cookbook.http://inglenookcookbook.org/
These look joyful and perfect for Mardi Gras! Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Thank you! And, yoiu have it right — Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Pretty! What a great idea, and the colored sugars leave me with exactly the same impression as a king cake.
Yes, it’s everything Mardi Gras down here. This iced cookie works well for a Mardi Gras theme. Enjoy!