Strawberry Shortcakes, or cookies what are they??

 My friend (Robin) told me about these amazing cookies she tried and thought of me cause i have been known to make a mean Orange Creamsicle Cupcake! Well i decided to check them out and then i decided they needed to be changed.... here is the original recipe http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/03/orange-kissed-cookies/   As you can see they are called Orange Kiss and mine have strawberries all over them hummmmm well we had a container of strawberries in our fridge and i wanted a strawberry shortcake but didn't have a recipe so i thought if i take that recipe and remove the orange flavor in the cookie and add vanilla then TA-DA! And i must say it worked like a charm, but we only needed 4 strawberry shortcakes for our family so that means the orange frosting must be made and when the orange frosting ran out with 10 cookies left to frost what is a girl to do? Run to your fridge and pull out some leftover strawberry cupcake frosting and frost the rest cause you can't leave your cookies naked can you?

My baby T loved his cookie too! 

Vanilla Cookies!

1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg
1/2 c. plain yogurt or sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (add another 2 tablespoons for high altitudes)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. milk
If you have vanilla paste or a vanilla bean to scrap in feel free to add it but if not you can always double the extract!  

Orange Frosting 

1 tsp. grated orange zest
1/4 c.  thawed orange juice concentrate
1/2 c. softened butter

3 c. powdered sugar                                                                                                                                                                                     2-3 drops orange food coloring (I never use we have a little boy allergic to red dye 40 so i try to make things he can enjoy too) 

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a mixer, combine the white sugar and shortening.  Beat until well-combined.  Add the egg and beat well, then add the yogurt or sour cream and vanilla and beat for about 1 minute or until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Add the flour mixture and beat until combined. Add the milk and mix well. It is really thick and gooey dont add more flour (unless you are high altitude like me) it makes them super tender and airy to start this gooey.

Using a cookie scoop, drop the dough/batter (the mixture will be VERY moist–thicker than a cake batter but thinner than traditional cookies) by the tablespoon-ful onto a lined, un-greased baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the cookies are set and just starting to turn golden brown around the edges. Don't do the touch test cause they will seem to soft but if the edges are done then pull them out! Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Shortcakes i used my big scooper then just added the cut strawberries and cool whip when they had cooled. 

For the frosting, combine the frosting ingredients with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Pipe or spread over the cooled cookies. I ran out of frosting so you might need to add extra concentrate and powdered sugar or just be reserved with the frosting unlike me.  Should i also say that I made up my own frosting for my orange dreamsicle cupcakes and these recipe is really close to what i did. So if you are wanting that recipe friends you are one step closer to it! (I promise when it is out of my head you will get it, but i might have to make them again and actually measure things this time) 

Yield: Approximately 36 cookies. or 30 cookies and 4 shortcakes