Week 15: Orange

 Week 15.  F1 is the size of an orange.  To celebrate Orange week I decided to make an Orange themed dessert.  I only had one orange for photography purposes.  Orangeya glad we're having a baby.

 Orange Bars

Just like lemon bars, only different.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp grated Orange peel
2 Tbs orange juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, butter, and powdered sugar.  Press in ungreased square pan (8 x 8 x 2 or 9 x 9 x 2 inches, building up 1/2 inch edges) Bake 20 min.  Beat remaining ingredients until light and fluffy, about 3 min.  Pour over hot crust.  Bake until no indentation remains when touched lightly in the center, about 25 min.  Cool; cut into squares.

 The first thing I did was zest and press my one orange.

 Mix flour, powdered sugar, and butter together and press into a pan and bake for 20 min at 350 degrees.

 While I was waiting for the crust to bake on the orange bars I realized I had more orange juice left.  This meant I could do a second dessert!

Whip together eggs, sugar, orange juice, salt and baking powder and pour over the hot crust.  Put it back in the 350 degree oven for 25 min.

Orange Crisp Cookies

Just like chocolate chip cookies, only different.

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 cup room temperature butter

1/2 cup shortening

2 tsp grated orange peel

1 Tbs orange juice

1 egg

2 and 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix sugars, shortening, and butter.  Mix in remaining ingredients.  Roll dough into balls and flatten on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake until edges are light brown, about 10 - 12 min.  

 Cream together sugars and soft butter and shortening.  I can sample the dough at this stage.  I am a notorious dough eater, so it has been very hard for me NOT to eat the dough once raw eggs have been added.  I can't eat raw dough when pregnant.

 Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

 Orange bars are done.  Dust with powdered sugar.

 Bake cookies are 375 degrees for 10 - 12 min.

 An Orange themed desert.  TWO orange desserts with ONE Orange.  Served on an Orange plate with an Orange mug.

 Enjoy.

Meringue Cookies

I hate wasting food.  It comes from my Mom guilting me into finishing every meal and cleaning off my plate and being grateful for it.  Even when I am full I have this guilty need to clean the plate or expect a lecture on gratitude and starving children in Africa if I don't.  I am the same way with my kitchen fridge and pantry.  I hate throwing away food and feel really guilty about it when I have to.  When separating eggs for a recipe I like to make two things so I can use both the egg yolks and the egg whites.  For example, when I make Macaroons (egg whites) I usually make pasta (egg yolks) at the same time.  Or in this case it was Pastry Cream (egg yolks) and Meringue cookies (egg whites).  

Meringue Cookies

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup ultafine sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used roasted Hazelnuts for this batch.  Pistachios also taste good.)

Makes 100+ small (1 inch round) cookies.  They are quick and easy to make, but take forever to bake.  An excellent cookie selection for whipping up (no pun intended) before church (3 hours) and taking them out of the oven when you get home.  I also like making these late at night so I can snack on them the next day.

Preheat over to 300 degrees.  Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form then add ultrafine sugar slowly, or 1 Tbs at a time, and whip until the egg whites are nice and glossy.

Whip in Vanilla and Vinegar.

Fold in Nuts.

Fill a piping bag and pipe out small 1 - 2 inch circles onto a parchment paper lined baking tray.

Place cookies in the oven (preheated to 300 degrees) then immediately turn the temperature down to 275  degrees.  Bake for 30 minutes then turn the oven off and do not open it for at least 4 hours for the cookies to completely dry out.  I usually leave them in the oven overnight.  DO NOT OPEN the oven at ANY time.  This is a long, slow, temperature sensitive process.

Confession time:  Opening the oven once did not ruin them.  I just know I'm not supposed to do it.

I would describe Meringue cookies as a light airy snack cookie that melts in your mouth and has a nice crunchy bit to them.  The 100+ cookie batch may seem like a lot to make at one time, but like chips, you can never have just one.
Enjoy.

Brown Sugar

Mom and Dad bought dinner for me last night at Olive Garden.  I was expecting to pay the bill myself and told them that I would,  but they beat me to it.  I was so grateful that I promised Dad I would make one of his favorite cookies for our Sunday Dinner dessert:  Walnut Chocolate Chip.  I hardly ever make them because J does not like nuts.  But he married into a nutty family and I am a nut, just like my Dad.

This is my Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.  The recipe I grew up with and the only recipe I use for chocolate chip cookies.  See how loved this recipe this.  The book is equally loved nearly to death.

Oh No!  I am almost out of brown sugar.  What to do?  What to do?

Good thing I have white sugar and molasses.

I will just make some brown sugar to use in my cookie recipe.

Dark Brown Sugar

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 Tbs molasses
• Mix for about 2 min until thoroughly incorporated.

Light Brown Sugar

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 Tbs molasses

Mix.  Mix.  Mix.

I have brown sugar.

Now I can make cookies.

I made a batch for J without walnuts.

I will never buy brown sugar again.  But more molasses is going on the grocery list this week.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes you just need a cookie.  I have been feeling depressed for the past two weeks, probably because of all the snow we have been getting and my anxiety over driving in it.

Sometimes you just need fresh baked Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This is from my permanently barrowed Betty Crocker cookbook.  The one where if you drop the book it opens up to this page.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup shortening
• Then add
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Mix that all together then add the dry ingredients
• 1 and ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 package (6 oz) chocolate chips.
• Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars. Mix together dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Bake at 375 for 8-10 min.

I am happy.

My husband is happy.

My Dalek Cookie Jar is happy. 
In case anyone was wondering his name is K-27 because J got him for my 27th birthday in a vicious to the death match snipe on e-bay.  He exterminates hunger.  He is wearing the Bowers Family Reunion team medal we won after a series of grueling sporting events.  Yeah, the pie eating contest was brutal.

My Takashi kitty is happy.

Pumpkin shaped Teacake Cookies

I made these for my company Halloween party.  My Russian teacake cookie recipe dyed orange with green candy melt chocolate stems to look like pumpkins.  I could have added pumpkin pie mix to the recipe but I didn't think of that until the next day.  I shall have to try it next time.  This is my favorite cookie recipe because they are easy to make, takes very few ingredients, and everyone loves them.  

Russian Teacake Cookies

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature or softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Mix that all together.  Then add:
• 2 and 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• Use a small ice cream scoop to make them all uniform in size.  I scoop and roll to make them all into little balls.  This recipe makes about 50 balls.  I like saying the word, "Balls".  
• Bake 400 degrees for 8 - 12 min. 
• When cool enough to touch, but still warm, roll in powdered sugar.  I put my powdered sugar in a gallon bag and drop about 5 balls in at a time, shake them around a bit, then take them out all evenly sugar coated.  They may need two coats of sugar.  If the cookies are too warm the first coat of sugar melts and they need to be dusted again. 

Enjoy.

Pistachio Macaroons

Pistachio Macaroons

My Dad loves pistachios, so I made these cookies just for him.
1/2 cup ground almonds/almond meal/almond flour
1/4 cup ground pistachios
1 cup powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup superfine sugar

J cracked open all the nuts for me.  Put about 1 to 1/2 a cup into the food processor to get started.

After a few seconds they are coarse, but not fine.  Set some aside for decorating and for the filling.

Add powdered sugar, almond meal, and 1/4 cup of the pre-processed pistachios in the food processor.

Process for a few more seconds until it looks like a unified powder.

Sift.

Prepare 2 egg whites in a mixing bowl.

Beat on high until soft peaks form.

Continue beating adding 1/4 cup superfine sugar 1 Tbs at a time.

Beat until stiff peaks form.

Optional:  Add a few drops of green food coloring to the beaten egg whites.

The green pistachios do not exude enough green color, so artificial food coloring gives these cookies a distinctive "I'm pistachio flavored because I am green" trade-mark.

Whip the green food coloring in for a few seconds until the egg whites a are uniformly green.

Add 1/3 of the powdered sugar/almond/pistachio sifted dry ingredients and fold into the egg whites.

Repeat with the next 1/3 of powder.  Repeat with the final 1/3 of powder until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

To pipe the cookie dough I use a disposable Wilton plastic piping bag.

To fill the bag I stick it in a large glass, tip at the bottom, and fold the top of the bag around the cup to give me more space for filling.

Then I fill the bag with my cookie dough and flip the top back up.

I cut the tip of the bag off and now I am ready to pipe out some cookies.

I pipe the cookies about 1 - 2 inches wide circles onto parchment paper on top of two sheet pans.  Yes, two sheet pans.  It is supposed to distribute the heat better with macaroons.  Macaroons are finicky like that.

Whatever am I going to do with the tips?!  If I bake them like this the cookies have baked tips and that is not pretty.

I wet my fingers with cold water and push down those little tips until the cookies are smooth.

Then decorate with the coarsely ground pistachios.  Like all finicky macaroons let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while the over is pre-heating.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 min.  It varies with ovens and elevations.

While the cookies are cooling prepare the pistachio filling.
6 Tbs softened room temperature butter
1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
The rest of the coarsely ground pistachios

Add pistachios, butter, and powdered sugar together.

Whip it and fill another piping bag.

Pipe pistachio frosting onto one cookie and place another one on top making a cookie sandwich.

Now for my favorite part, the eating.  I hear they are supposed to be better the next day, but they never last that long in my house.