Cookies Recipes - Orange-Sugar Cookies Recipe

Ingredients              

• 1 cup/240 ml sugar

• 4 drops red food coloring

• 3 cups/710 ml flour

• 3 tbsp/45 ml dried, ground orange peel

• 1 tsp/5 ml baking soda

• 2 tsp/10 ml baking powder

• 1/2 cup/120 ml ground almonds, toasted

(Makes about 4 to 4 1/2 dozen.)

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Method:

1. Instructions for jar: Place sugar in small bowl. Add red and yellow food coloring and stir well until sugar is evenly colored. (You'll end up with a nice orange color.)

2. In medium bowl, combine flour, orange peel, baking soda and baking powder. Stir well to mix.

3. Place half of sugar in a 1 liter jar and smooth over. Spoon half the flour mixture on top and press down, smoothing out top.

4. Place remaining half of sugar over flour layer and press down evenly. Spoon remaining half of flour on top, press down and smooth over.

5. Place toasted almond on top of flour and press down firmly. (It will be a tight squeeze.) Place lid on jar.

6. For baking: Preheat oven to 350 (176 C). Place contents of jar into large bowl. Add butter or margarine. vanilla extract egg and milk.

7. Beat on low speed to blend. For drop cookies, drop dough by rounded teaspoonful onto un-greased cookie sheet For rolled cookies, refrigerate dough for a couple of hours to chill (and make it easier to work with). Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/4 (.6 cm) thick. Cut with cookie cutter and place cutouts on un-greased cookie sheet.

8. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. then transfer to cooling rack.

Note: To toast the almonds and bring out their flavor, place the ground nuts on a cookie sheet in a 350 (176 C) degree oven and bake for about 5 minutes until they're lightly browned. Be sure to check them frequently because they can burn sickly. Let them cool completely before adding them to the jar.