Orange and Almond cookies

There is an animation series “The super sleuths” which has my son’s favourite POOH and Tigger in it. There is an episode which is about “COOKIE TREE”. Finally they conclude there is no such thing as Cookie tree…..Pooh was correct it would be a great idea to have a cookie tree in the backyard … Silly old bear got me into this cookie craving:)

Reality hit me hard when there were no cookies left in the cookie jar. Living in an apartment I had no backyard first of all and of course no cookie tree. What is the option left …bake some cookies.

I was staring at my pantry and fridge alternatively thinking of what cookie to bake. I found a couple of organic oranges which had almost 3 to 4 stickers on them saying  or should I say screaming that they were organic..as if one was not enough to convince me. Then I saw a packet of almonds and my brain suggested ” Orange Almond cookies” … my heart immediately fell in love with the idea.

When the cookies were baking my GOD the smell was heavenly and at last when we tasted it wow they were delicious… It was a midnight baking episode as usual.That’s the ideal time when I can be assured that I don’t have my toddler tugging my pajamas or running inside the kitchen to see how an oven works..

Coming back to the recipe Oranges add heavenly flavour to cookies…almonds are too good for your health and in addition I made the cookies with  light whole wheat flour from King arthur brand…I guess it is made with spring wheat instead of regular wheat.. so its  light.  I am sure the recipe will work just fine even with the regular wheat flour or atta. I promise you that these cookies are totally guilt free..

Here is the recipe

CRISPY ORANGE ALMOND COOKIES

What’s needed:

• 1 cups blanched sliced almonds + a few more to top the cookies
• 2 cups light whole wheat flour (King Arthur brand)
• 1 tbsp flax seed meal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 tbsp oil
• 5 tbsp of  sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 7 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch of salt

How to’s:-

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grind the remaining almonds to a coarse powder in a food processor or in small batches in a coffee grinder. (You can toast them slightly before grinding if you want to ..)
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl and sift in the flour,flaxseed meal, baking soda, and baking powder.
4. In another bowl, mix the oil and sugar well.
5. Add the egg next and beat well, then beat in the orange zest, juice, vanilla, and salt.
6. Stir in the flour-almond mixture.
7. Line the baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease them.
8. Pinch off a little dough at a time, roll into a ball and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.
9. Flatten the balls to form cookies ( I made square cookies too ).
10. Press a sliced almond into the center of each cookie.
11. Bake the cookies for  20 to 25 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Please start watching them like a hawk after the first 15 minutes.
12. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans, then cool on a rack.

These cookies became very crunchy as they cooled off… so I  thought they are the best tea time cookies. My son loves to dunk them in milk and munch them away to glory

It’s no more our tea time cookies its ALL TIME COOKIE… We eat it after meals as dessert too .. and eat one whenever we go to the kitchen

This is my entry for Sugar High Friday : Sweet comfort hosted by Kate at A Merrier World

I am all set to make my next batch of Orange Almond cookies..

Happy baking you all,

Koki