Orange based recipe you must try before you die!

Winters are perhaps the best time when you meet friends and family as the holiday season dawns upon you. Its also a time to put on those extra winter kilos because its christmas time and these  recpies are a perfect way to start a new year .

Orange walnut cake

A very moist cake that's intensely flavored and a cinch to make. The fresh ginger helps prevent the orange flavor from flattening and tasting like cordial, but it stays in the background so the citrus flavor remains strong. I baked mine in a slightly smaller tin, so it rose grandly and a bit precariously, with the paper sticking out up the sides to hold the cake in place while baking.

225g caster sugar
5 oranges
100g unsalted butter
2-3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
75ml double cream
3 medium eggs
325g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
Chopped walnuts and cinnamon

Line the base and sides of a large, deep, 19cm-long loaf tin with nonstick baking paper and heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Put the sugar in a saucepan, finely grate the zest from the oranges and leave to one side, then squeeze 150ml juice from the oranges and pour in with the sugar. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave for five to 10 minutes, to cool and for the butter to melt, then stir in the zest, ginger and cream. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the flour and baking powder until smooth.

Spoon a third of the cake mix into the tin, sprinkle with walnuts and cinnamon, swirl them through, then add another third of the batter and repeat with more nuts and spice. Spoon on the remaining batter, sprinkle on some walnuts and cinnamon to make a top crust, and bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer pulls out with only a few crumbs stuck to it.

Orange choc chip butter cookies

Not a million miles away from supermarket shortbread, but making them yourself provides the perfect excuse to splash out on some top-notch butter.

350g plain flour
½ tsp salt
150g icing sugar
200g unsalted butter, slightly softened
Finely grated zest of 5 oranges (or 2 tsp good orange extract)
200g chocolate chips (or a block cut into rough chunks)

Put the flour, salt, icing sugar, butter and zest in a bowl and rub together into a smooth, soft dough. (This will take some time if you do it with your hands and, yes, a food processor will make everything easier, but each to their own.) Add the chocolate, work it through quickly until evenly mixed in, then divide the dough in two and roll each half into a cylinder. Wrap each one in nonstick paper or cling-film and freeze until you want to bake (they'll keep for up to a month).

To bake, heat the oven to 170C (150C fan-assisted)/335F/gas mark 3. Line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper. Take the dough out of the freezer, let it soften slightly for five to 10 minutes, just enough so it slices but stays firm, then cut out 0.75-1cm discs. (I find a serrated knife works best for this, used like a saw to cut though the chocolate chips, but work with whatever you prefer.) If the chips shatter a little, just press them back into the top of the dough discs. Sit the biscuits on the tray 2-3cm apart and bake for 25 minutes, until lightly coloured and crisp. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Source: Dan Lepard's recipes for baking with oranges

Picture courtesy: Internet