A Santa Fe Christmas! Orange Cornmeal Cutout Cookies

Every time  I go to Santa Fe, I come back wanting to make some sort of New Mexico-inspired cookies involving corn meal and perhaps piñon seeds.  I decided to revise this recipe for Mexican Orange-Cornmeal Sandies for this occasion.  Based on my comments on the original recipe, I reduced the sugar slightly, as well as the orange extract.  I debated about the nuts, and finally decided to throw in piñon seeds.

Here's what I used:

2 cups flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1/2 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/4-1/2 cup piñon seeds (about 1-2 oz.) toasted and coarsely chopped

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In a bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange zest and orange extract and beat until thoroughly combined.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in piñon seeds. Divide dough in half, shape into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out dough and place cookies 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets.  Repeat with remaining dough, gathering up scraps, re-rolling and cutting until all dough is used. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 2 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Conclusion:  I liked my changes except...  I forgot to add the piñon seeds!  I stuck them in the surface of one cookie, but it looked sort of weird and I was afraid they'd burn so didn't do the rest.  But they added a nice flavor.  Still, this recipe simply spreads too much to be good for cutout cookies.  Maybe I can modify a different recipe for this combination.