Terry’s Chocolate Orange is a British Christmas staple thanks to a decades old, ingenious marketing campaign suggesting it as a perfect stocking stuffer — perhaps a play on the traditional orange often given at Christmas.
Its storied roots go all the way back to York, England in the 1700’s where a confectioners shop sold candied lemon and orange peel. In the 1820’s Joseph Terry joined the company and introduced marmalades and chocolate and then, in the 1930’s, he got wildly creative and the classic Chocolate Orange was born.
For as long as I can remember, their slogan has been “tap it, unwrap it” which I always thought was finished with “and share a little luxury” but I can’t find any evidence of the latter so it’s very possible that I’m mixing up my advertising campaigns.
The tap part comes from taking the wrapped orange and tapping it so that the pieces inside separate when opened. In reality the tap needed is more of a good solid whack.
Nowadays, the milk chocolate orange has spawned a multitude of variations: dark, mint, truffles, exploding candy. Unsurprisingly, the original remains the best.
And while the Chocolate Orange is perfect to nibble on whenever the mood suits over the festive season, (it’s delicious accompanied by an afternoon cup of tea) today we’re getting all kinds of fancy, taking one milk chocolate orange and one dark chocolate orange, chopping them up and combining them with some dried cranberries to give a classic chocolate chip cookie the very taste of Christmas.
Chocolate Orange and Cranberry Cookies
- flour – 2-1/8 cups
- salt -1/2 teaspoon
- baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon
- butter – 12 tablespoons, melted and cooled ’til warm
- brown sugar – 1 cup
- white sugar – 1/2 cup
- eggs – one whole, one yolk
- vanilla – 1 tablespoon
- Terry’s Chocolate Orange – 2, one dark, one milk, chopped into small pieces
- dried cranberries – 1 cup
- Preheat oven to 325˚
- Mix the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. No need to sift, just fluff with a fork or whisk.
- Beat the butter with both the brown and white sugars until well blended.
- Beat in the egg, yolk and vanilla. Again, just until well blended. No need to overdo it.
- Stir in the dry ingredients until no flour is showing.
- Mix in the chocolate orange chunks and dried cranberries.
- Roll into balls (or use an ice cream scoop) and put onto a parchment lined tray and bake for 14 minutes.
Notes: I personally like my cookies small and always use an ice cream scoop that measures 1-1/4″ across. If you make your cookies bigger they will need an extra few minutes in the oven. I am also partial to giving them the grand slam treatment on the counter top to help flatten them out a bit, but then I am a fan of very flat and crispy cookies.
