Turmeric Cookies taste like sunshine. Ginger gives these orange biscuits a bit of zing and turmeric creates smooth warmth and yellow color. The glaze provides an additional layer of sweetness and spices. An excellent summer treat!
If you enjoy the combination of ginger and other spices, next time try chewy Cinnamon Ginger Lebkuchen Bars.
Why you'll love this recipe
The no fuss dough for Turmeric Cookies is super simple to throw together in a mixer or food processor. Once chilled, the log of slice-and-bake dough can be baked all at once, or stored in the freezer to slice a few cookies and bake when needed.
The drizzled glaze, sprinkled with decorating sugar, gives these turmeric cookies a lace-like look. One of my taste testers said the cookies looked like pieces of a wedding dress. That made me smile.
Generally, I have found that confectioners' sugar glaze, once completely dried, holds up well to shipping, even in the summer. However, this glaze is made with juice and can start to change color after a week. For longer storage time of up to two weeks, skip the glaze and just sprinkle the cookies with sugar before baking.
Turmeric biscuits are lovely summer cookies. The bright refreshing flavors are perfect for a warm weather snack.
They are also an easy cookie to make ahead and bake as needed for guests or care packages. Make sure to have a few of these cookie dough logs in your freezer for whenever you need a bit of sunshine!
Recipe ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- confectioners’ sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- orange zest
- ground ginger
- turmeric
- unsalted butter
- orange juice
- vanilla extract
- large crystal decorating sugar
Instructions
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- In the bowl of an electric mixer (or food processor), combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, baking powder, salt, orange zest, ginger, and turmeric. Mix in the pieces of butter until it is in small pieces throughout.
- In a small bowl, stir together the orange juice and vanilla. Pour into the mixer bowl and mix just until the dough forms.
- Place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper and roll into an 8” log. Roll-up the log in the parchment paper, place into a paper towel tube, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to bake, slice ¼” thick rounds of dough. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1” apart.
- Bake at 325° F for 12-15 minutes, until the bottom edges begin to turn golden.
Tips
- The addition of turmeric provides color and warm flavor. If you don't want the yellow color in the dough or icing, simply leave out the turmeric powder. I made a two batches; one with turmeric and one without. The white glaze in some of the photos shows the turmeric-less batch.
- Keep logs of turmeric cookies in the freezer to slice off only as many as needed for freshly baked cookies in minutes.
More slice and bake cookies
Green Eggs and Ham Cookies are a fun way to celebrate Dr. Seuss! These colorful butter cookies look just like the green eggs in the book.
Raisins in shades of gold and brown peak through these Golden Raisin Butter Cookies and make them look like stain glass!
Thin, crisp Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies are a crunchy treat that goes well with coffee, tea, or milk!
Slice and bake triangle cookies are a fun twist to traditional hamantaschen, Jewish Purim cookies.
My experience with this recipe
Recently, I’ve been drinking a lot of Trader Joe's Ginger Turmeric tea. I think Trader Joe’s chose that name because both turmeric and ginger are trendy buzz words.
The ingredients do include those herbs, but the tea is bursting with orange flavor from orange zest and orange oil.
I hope the claims that these herbs are good for you are true, because I have been drinking this refreshing blend by the gallon! I’m so taken by this flavor combination, that I recreated it in these turmeric sugar cookies!
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Turmeric Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon orange zest from 1 medium orange
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¾ cup unsalted butter cold, cut into tablespoon pieces
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
Glaze
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¼- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 4-6 teaspoons orange juice
- large crystal decorating sugar about 3 tablespoons
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer(or food processor), combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, baking powder, salt, orange zest, ginger, and turmeric.
- Add the pieces of butter and mix until the butter is in small pieces throughout the flour mixture.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together the orange juice and vanilla. Pour into the mixer bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix just until the dough forms.
- Place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper and roll into an 8” log. Place the log into the center of the paper. Fold the parchment over the dough and push a ruler edge or dough scraper against the bottom edge of the log where it meets the parchment to remove air pockets and compress the dough into a log about 10” long.
- Roll-up the log in the parchment paper, then place into a paper towel tube cut open lengthwise (to keep the bottom of the log rounded). Wrap the tube encased dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to bake: Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the dough and slice ¼” thick. Place on prepared cookie sheet about 1” apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or just until the bottom edges begin to turn golden. The surface should not brown. Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare glaze: In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar, ginger, and turmeric (optional). Add the orange juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, while mixing until a drizzling/spreading consistency is achieved.
- With the wire cooling rack positioned over a sheet of wax paper (to catch drips) drizzle or spread the glaze over a few cookies at a time. Sprinkle immediately with large crystal decorating sugar. Allow the glaze to set completely for several hours before storing the cookies.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container. Glazed cookies stay fresh for at least 1 week. Cookies without glaze stay fresh for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
First Published: June 8, 2017. Last Updated: August 8, 2021. Updated for additional information and improved reader experience.
AGB
I made the recipe as written and it looked like biscuit dough after you have cut in the butter! I added an egg and more orange juice and it formed a dough. They still turned out great after these modifications. I will make these again, but I will probably double the turmeric and triple the ginger as those flavours didn't come through in the final cookie at all. They only tasted like orange, delicious orange though.
The Monday Box
Hi, Alanna. I am not sure what you mean by the dough looking like biscuit dough. It should be crumbly after cutting in the butter. At that point the juice is added (you said "more juice" so I am not sure when you added the original amount). Given a minute or two, the amount of liquid in the recipe from the juice and vanilla, will cause the dough to come together. If it did not come together, I wonder how you measured your sugar and flour. Did you spoon the ingredients into the measuring cup? Scooping the ingredients can cause over filling. Weight measurements would be preferable but many people aren't used to measuring that way. Certainly, adapting the spices to your tastes is always recommended. I will say though, that the extra orange juice probably upped the orange flavor! I am glad the cookies were tasty!
AGB
Remade this today using a lighter hand with my flour and they turned out a lot better. I still tripled the ginger though because I wanted spicy, and just used whatever zest came off an orange because then it is less waste. Yum Yum! It is a keeper!
Wendy Sondov
Fantastic! I'm so glad you were able to make the recipe work for you and that you enjoyed the cookies! Thank you for coming back and leaving an update comment. That is always helpful to other readers. Happy baking!
Shirley H
Just made these with the turmeric. Absolutely delicious.
The Monday Box
Thanks, Shirley! I am so glad you enjoyed these. I can't get enough of this flavor combo! 🙂
Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
I love the unusual flavour combinations in these cookies the Ginger and Tumeric. Thanks so much for linking up and sharing with us at #overthemoon link party. I've shared on social media. Have a great week and see you at the next OTM.
Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
http://www.sizzlingtowardssixty.com.au
The Monday Box
Thank you, Sue! My love of ginger turmeric tea overflowed into these cookies! 🙂 Thanks for pinning and for hosting Over The Moon!
Miz Helen
Orange, Ginger and Turmeric what a different combination for your delicious looking cookies. I will be trying these very soon. I am pinning these! Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday. Have a great weekend and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
The Monday Box
Thanks, Miz Helen. I fell in love with this interesting flavor combo in my new favorite tea. It tastes great in cookies too! 🙂 Thanks for pinning! I hope you enjoy the cookies!
Helen Reynolds
I am excited to try these. I have been wanting to add more turmeric to my diet because of its health benefits. Thanks for sharing this.
The Monday Box
Thanks, Helen. I hope you enjoy the cookies! I highly recommend the Trader Joe's tea with the same flavor combo. Tea and cookies would be a lovely way to get health benefits! 😉
Alison's Allspice
These are my perfect cookie! I don't make cookies often, but when they have added benefits of turmeric, I think I should! Pinned for later, Thanks!
The Monday Box
Thank, Alison! The recipe as written, only has a little turmeric, but if you love the flavor or turmeric I would definitely increase the amount. 🙂
The Hungry Mum
oh, what a fab cookie! Such a creative and mouth-watering flavour combo.
The Monday Box
Thank you! I fell in love with this flavor combination in a cup of tea and it translates wonderfully into a cookie!
Chris Scheuer
What a fun and delicious combination of flavors Wendy. I'll be looking for that tea at TJ's!
The Monday Box
Thanks, Chris! That tea is my current favorite. The flavors are refreshing in tea and cookies. 🙂
Tricia @ Saving room for dessert
Another beautiful cookie - with fascinating flavors Wendy! I drink both tea and coffee and could enjoy a couple of these cookies with my cup-o-Joe right now 🙂 Have a lovely weekend!
The Monday Box
Thanks, Tricia! I just adapted the flavors I was loving in my tea to a butter cookie. They are great with tea or coffee! Wishing you a great weekend too!