Orange Cookies

  Tonight, I was in the mood for cookies and came across these Orange Cookies.  I remember my great grandmother (G.G.) used to make these and I thought it would be a wonderful way to kick off the blog and the Christmas season!  First off, there are two recipes.  They are the same, but written twice.  I am not sure why other than for the sake of clarity.  Now, I shall attempt to clarify even further.

1 Orange (I used two small oranges)

1 Cup Crisco*

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Cup Milk (sour the milk with 1 Tablespoon Vinegar - there was no specification on what type of vinegar.  I used Apple Cider Vinegar and it worked just fine)

1 tsp. Baking Soda

3/4 tsp Salt

5 - 5 1/2 Cups flour

1)  Juice the orange and set aside.  Put rind and pulp into food processor (or in my case, the Vitamix) and grind up.  I would also like to add that I ended up putting the juice back into the blender with the pulp with a little water so that it would actually blend.  In hindsight, I should have just tossed both oranges into the Vitamix to begin with.

In the end it looked something like this.

2)  Cream Crisco and Sugar together.

3)  Add eggs one at a time

4)  Add orange juice 

5)  Add baking soda to the soured milk and add to mixture.

6)  Add salt and flour.

7)  Drop onto baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes depending on the size.  

FROSTING

Juice 1 Orange

1 Tbsp Butter

1 lb. Powdered Sugar

1)  Mix until smooth and spread on cool cookies.

I ended up using about 6 cups of flour to get the consistency I wanted.  I think I ended up adding too much flour.  OOPS!  Also, my cookies did NOT bake all the way through after 9 minutes.  I think they needed an extra 2 minutes, but overall, the flavor is THERE and it is delicious.  I must admit, I ended up getting tired and did not frost them.  They are still tasty without the added calories of the frosting.  So, I am happy to report that my Santa cookie jar (which used to be Mom's) is now full of delicious under-baked orange cookies that bring back happy memories!  

*DISCLAIMER:  While leafing through these recipes, I see that most of them call for Crisco or Margarine instead of butter.  Now, one of my life mottos is "Butter makes everything better".  In this motto, the word "Butter" is always interchangeable with the word "Bacon", but I digress.  I, personally am not a fan of Crisco.  Other than the fact that it has a high melting temp and frosting keeps its shape and consistency better with shortening, I tend to avoid it at all costs.  Just know that butter can almost always be substituted...and most times, I WILL be making that sub.

Here's are more reasons why I love butter.  The Benefits of Butter...published on my other blog, Cassierole by yours truly.