We did more baking today. Ed was deeply distressed on Thursday to find that we had given away every cookie in the house, and there was nothing at all sugary and unwholesome for him to snack on. This dire situation was cured on Friday, when we received a very large package full of baked goodies from my loving mom, and normal people would have felt themselves well supplies with sweets through the New Year with what she sent. Being the not-quite-normal people we are, however, Ed felt it would be a very good idea if I made some fudge, and maybe some orange balls, and maybe a few more of those chocolates with the fondant inside that he liked so well? So I did.
These are orange balls. They don't look like much, but Ed thinks they are my best cookies. They have the added attraction of being extremely easy to make. (That is, assuming you have a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, I don't think they'd be easy at all.)
In addition to sending a mountain of cookies, my darling mommy sent a kit for making a cookie tree, 
called a Festivitrees Bake Set. Doesn't that name just make you think of Festivus? It does me, and, by the way, happy Festivus to you! In honor of the day, and because it looked like fun, the kids and I made cookie trees today. K. really got into rolling out the dough and cutting out stars. In fact, I couldn't get her to stop, even after we had made enough stars to make a whole forest of trees. Her later cookies, having been rolled and re-rolled and re-rolled again, with ever increasing quantities of flour to prevent sticking, are quite a bit firmer than your average cookie, but she had a great time. T. wasn't interested in rolling or cutting, but he did enjoy decorating.
called a Festivitrees Bake Set. Doesn't that name just make you think of Festivus? It does me, and, by the way, happy Festivus to you! In honor of the day, and because it looked like fun, the kids and I made cookie trees today. K. really got into rolling out the dough and cutting out stars. In fact, I couldn't get her to stop, even after we had made enough stars to make a whole forest of trees. Her later cookies, having been rolled and re-rolled and re-rolled again, with ever increasing quantities of flour to prevent sticking, are quite a bit firmer than your average cookie, but she had a great time. T. wasn't interested in rolling or cutting, but he did enjoy decorating.
Chocolate Orange Balls
1. In food processor, combine 9 oz. vanilla wafer cookies (Nilla Wafers), 2 c. confectioners sugar, 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/3 c. orange juice concentrate, and 1/4 c. light corn syrup.
2. Process until cookies are ground to crumbs and mixture is evenly blended. Add 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (you really do need to chop them before adding), and process until mixed.
3. Form into 1" balls (or bigger, whatever you like), and roll in confectioners sugar until well coated. Store in airtight container.
2 comments:
Oh oh oh! I'm making those trees tomorrow! (Wish I'd known there was a kit, though. That's handy.) My sister used to make these every year. Or rather, one enormous one every year. The kids couldn't touch it until someone had eaten the top star first (probably my sister - baker's fees, and all). Oh, the agony of strolling past the tree, trying not to look terribly ravenous, trying to will one of the candies to fall off spontaneously! :-) I was going to make three small ones, for each of the kids, and a big one for Christmas Day. Where'd your mom find the kit?
Dy
Dy -- I'm not sure where she found the kit, but I looked on the internet under Festivitrees Baking Set (I'd temporarily lost the recipe for the cookies & was hoping to find it online) and quite a few online vendors carried it. I'd never heard of a cookie tree before, but the kids had a great time with them!
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