Poppy Seed Cookies, served with Orange

At a glance

What stands out: Buttery cookies speckled with black poppy seeds and flavored with orange zest, poppy seed cookies are straightforward to mix. Reliable with a cup of tea!

How long it takes: 10 minutes prep, 12 minutes to bake each batch
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl, cookie sheet
Servings: makes 40 cookies

Classic Poppy Seed Cookies

A family tradition. Melt in your mouth buttery, not too sweet, subtly flavored with orange, topped by a single chocolate chip, these poppy seed cookies are a family favorite. We asked our mom why she always includes them on her Christmas cookie platter. Her reason was simple and practical: she always whips up cinnamon meringues at Christmas, using two egg whites, leaving two unused egg yolks. She looked through her cookbooks and found a recipe for cookies which calls for exactly two egg yolks! We guess that’s how traditions are born.

Cookies with a European heritage. We did a bit of research and found that poppy seed cookies are a traditional “old fashioned” cookie originally made by Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews, according to Wikipedia. You might know them as Mohn kichel, or Mun or Munn cookies, or even “Moon” cookies. “Mohn” is German for poppy.

So brew a cup of tea or better yet, orange hot chocolate, and enjoy a poppy seed cookie! Perhaps they’ll become a tradition in your family, too!

Straightforward to bake. There’s nothing fancy or tricky about making these straightforward cookies. Simply cream together softened butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Stir in flour, poppy seeds, and orange zest. You can do it by hand; a mixer isn’t necessary. The dough doesn’t need to be chilled. Form the dough into balls, flatten slightly, and place one chocolate chip in the center. Bake until just lightly browned. So straightforward!

What goes in

• Butter: Always choose unsalted butter for baking, unless otherwise directed. If you only have salted butter, you can use it but omit the salt in the recipe. Allow the butter to come to room temperature.
• Sugar: These cookies aren’t overly sweet. There’s only a half a cup of sugar in this recipe.
• Flour: Measure the flour by spooning it out of your canister and lightly adding it to a dry measure measuring cup, leveling the top with a knife. Don’t shake it down or compact it.
• Poppy seeds: These tiny seeds add crunch, texture, and visual appeal to the cookies, not to mention good nutrition.
• Grated orange zest: You’ll want the zest to be pretty finely grated. Wash the orange first and try not to zest the white part (pith) because it tends to be bitter.
• Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract gives a nice warm sweet flavor to the cookies.
• Pinch of salt: You’ll find that cookies taste flat if you don’t add a pinch of salt.
• Chocolate chips: Just one for each cookie! You’ll need about a half cup.

Straightforward Recipe Variations

• Make them lemon. Lemon and poppy seeds are a popular combination. Substitute lemon zest for the orange zest in this recipe if you like.
• Make them slice and bake cookies. Roll the cookie dough into logs, refrigerate until firm, and cut slices to bake, or try these lemon poppyseed slice and bakes.
• Try a different topper. We like to press a semi-sweet chocolate chip in the center of each cookie but you can leave them plain or use another type of chip. Another option is to make jam-filled cookies. Create a shallow well in the center of each cookie (before you bake them) and fill it with a ½ teaspoon of fruit preserves.
• Make them without butter. Try this non-dairy poppy seed cookie recipe made with oil instead of butter, by The Spruce Eats, as an alternative.

Keeping leftovers

Cool poppy seed cookies completely and store in a tightly covered container for up to two weeks. Poppy seed cookies freeze beautifully. Simply wrap them well and freeze for up to a couple of months.

We love paging through the stained pages of well-used school or church cookbooks or hearing about Grandma’s wonderful cookies. Here are a few recipes we'd like to share. We'd love to hear about cookie traditions in your family!

Old-Fashioned Cookie Recipes

• Yield: 40 cookies
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 12 minutes
• Total: 22 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• ½ cup chocolate chips, if desired

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cream butter, salt, vanilla, and sugar. Add egg yolks. Stir in flour, poppy seeds, and orange zest..
3. Form one inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press one chocolate chip in the center of each cookie. Flatten each ball slightly with a spatula.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until very lightly browned.
5. Cool slightly, remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Yield: Yield depends on how large you make the cookies.

Lemon poppy seed cookies: Substitutelemon zest for the orange zest.

Optional toppings: we like to press a semi-sweet chocolate chip in the center of each cookie but you can leave them plain, if you prefer, or use another type of chip, such as white chocolate or milk chocolate. Another option is to make a shallow well in the center of each cookie (before you bake them) and fill it with a ½ teaspoon of fruit preserves.