Orange Almond Cookies

Orange Almond Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookies.  Orange and Almonds just seem to go hand in hand.

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter softened

1 cup sugar or splenda

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup almonds finely ground

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup Wheat flour

1 teaspoon No-Sodium baking powder

1 teaspoon No-Sodium baking soda

Juice of 1 orange and zest of half of orange

Cream together butter and sugar until it is smooth.  Add remaining wet ingredients and again blend well.  Sift together dry ingredient and slowly add to cream mixture, but be sure not to over work the dough.  

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and use a small ice cream scoop and drop onto the cooking tray.  Lightly flour your hands and flattened the cookies.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  The cookies will remain light in color but the bottoms should be golden brown.  As they cool, they will have a delicious crisp. This is optional but you slightly dust the cookies with powder sugar.

Autumn Spice Cookies

Autumn Spice Cookies

This autumn spice cookie is great to serve on Samhain night or any autumn night with a warm cup of tea.  It is a cookie that leaves that little bit of warmth and tingling in your mouth after eating it. I created this cookie this morning after updating one my article called Samhain.  As I was cooking them, the spice sense filled my kitchen and my husband even enjoyed then.  That is always a true that I crated something enjoyable.  

A little extra information you may be interested in.  As you know I see magic just about in everything, especially food.  Each food has a certain symbolic meaning behind it.  Here are some interesting things that the spices in these cookies can mean.

Cinnamon:  Cinnamon increase your ability for success, healing, psychic abilities, love and protection.

Ginger:  Increases your ability for love, abundance and success

Nutmeg: Increases your ability for luck, abundance, and health

Autumn Spice Cookies

1 3/4 cup Wheat Flour

1/4 cup Cornstarch 

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1 cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 cup Unsweetened Applesauce  OR

1 stick softened unsalted butter and 2 egg whites

1 teaspoon Vanilla Paste (or extract)

Mix all of the dry ingredients together first, than add the wet ingredients.   If you use a small scoop your cookies will all be the same size.  Place the cookie dough ball in sugar and roll it around.  Place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper and flatten them out.  Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

Makes 2 1/2 dozens of cookies.

**Please note:  The unsweetened applesauce is used instead of the eggs and the shortening.  I have been doing this for a while now with my cakes and cookies and the items turn out moist. But you could stick to the traditional unsalted butter and egg whites.

Welcome to my Kitchen

Often in the Kitchen I feel like a mad-scientist, actually it is pretty funny to watch.  My cooking is very much like my artwork and photography, I like uniqueness, different and I am not afraid to experiment.  Don't get me wrong, many of my recipes have turned out awful but then I have those days that my recipes comes out pretty much okay.

I try my best to incorporate more of a healthier note, with a twist of sweetness.  Just because many of us have health issues does not mean we need to give up everything we love to eat.  All that needs done is altering the recipe. I have a wicked sweet tooth, and if I do not give it something sweet it lets me know.  

When it comes to cooking there is one real important rule to remember:  Experimenting can be so much fun because it gives you a chance to use your creativity, so do not be afraid to experiment! My biggest problem with this is very seldom do I measure ingredients when this happens, the recipe never comes out the same.  So recently I made a really good chilli that my husband liked and I decided I better write down the spices and the measurements for the next time I make it.  So I have a sticky note on the front of my fridge with measurements but forgot to write down what it was for.In my recipes very seldom will you see me using salt. Instead I use a lot of spices so it is up to you to decide if you want to add salt or not.