Orange-Fig Drop Cookies for the Holiday Bake Along
The joy of creation can result from doing beautiful needlework, creating a lovely quilt or simply baking and cooking delicious treats for your loved ones!
Professionals from the Quilting and Needlework Industries have joined together to share their holiday memories, a glimpse into their businesses, and MANY irresistible recipes!
Please visit ILovetoBakeCookies.com and TheArmchairChef.com for more fabulous holiday creations!
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Needlework and Quilting Pros |
| ILoveToBake.com ORANGE - FIG DROPS |
| For the past 20 years, my best friends and I have gotten together during the first full weekend in December for our annual Great Cookie Bake! For 3 days solid, we eat, talk, laugh, and of course, BAKE *enormous* amounts of cookies. We bake so many cookies, in fact, that we now have a database containing our recipe ingredients and number of batches baked. We’re quite productive, considering there are only 4 of us baking! (To give you an idea, for the 2005 bake, we made 26 varieties, which required about 13 lbs. butter, 5 dozen eggs, and about 20 lbs. of flour!) About a month before the Bake, we get together and decide which cookies we feel like baking this time around, who will be bringing how much of what ingredients. Then we converge on the host’s house at the appointed time and the Games begin! For many years, we rotated between our three homes…then one of our group bought a new house with 2 wall ovens… talk about heaven for cookie baking! We have a great time getting together; the baking part is really just an excuse to do it! We give most of the finished product away as gifts.
There are several types we simply *must* make every year, as people are disappointed if we don’t! A relatively new cookie (for us) which has turned out to be a big success is Orange-Fig Drops. |
| Ingredients |
| Cookies:1/2 cup shortening 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon orange peel, finely shredded 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 egg 1/2 cup honey 3 tablespoons orange juice 2 cups flour 1 cup dried date pieces 1 cup dried cranberries (soak overnight in a flavored brandy if desired: YUM!!) |
| Orange Icing:1 cup confectioners sugar 2 tablespoons orange juice |
| Step by Step |
| Cookie InstructionsPreheat oven to 350 F 1) For the cookies, in a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. 2) Add egg, honey, and OJ. Beat until combined. 3) Add the cinnamon, orange peel and baking soda; beat until combined. 4) Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. 5) Stir in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon. 6) Stir in dates and cranberries. 7) Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2″ apart on baking sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or ’til lightly browned. Remove drops and cool on wire racks. |
| Make icing:Â 1) In a small bowl, mix the sugar together with enough of the orange juice to make an icing of drizzling consistence. 2) Drizzle over baked cookies. Tip:Â If you decide to soak the cranberries, it will make the drops wonderfully moist! |
| TW Designworks |
| TW Designworks: Specializing in fantasy-inspired counted cross stitch designs, sold through fine needlework retailers and via PatternsOnLine.com. Also now offering fine art prints and original artwork by Teresa Wentzler, sold consumer-direct via the TW Designworks website. Sign up for the TW Art Newsletter to stay updated about what’s new! Visit Artistic License, my blog, for glimpses into the life of the artist/designer. And visit the Teresa Wentzler Bulletin Board to network with other needlework enthusiasts. Stay tuned for some new developments as TW Designworks continues to grow! http://www.twdesignworks.com/ |