Learning 2 Bake, from Scratch – XV

New city, new altitude, new stove, minimal gear. What could go wrong?

I’m craving cookies and this looks like a good summer cookie recipe (from grandma):

Orange Drops

1 cup sugar (large)
1 cup shortening (small)
Grated rind and juice of 1 medium orange
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 cup flour (large)
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup H [hazel?] nuts

I live two blocks from a Safeway, now, so I wandered over and bought myself an orange:

Packed in boxes somewhere are: The Crisco, so coconut oil will have to do; the big bag of sugar, so that left-over package from who knows when or where will have to do; the boxes of salt, so grabbing a pinch from the shaker will have to do.

Since there are no instructions, I went with the standard “cream shortening and sugar”. Dealing with the Orange Cake (which started this saga) taught me that the peel is where the flavor is, but the white stuff underneath (pith?) is bitter, so a light grating:

For whatever reason, the grater is unpacked

They are called Orange DROPS, so I figure “drop by teaspoons onto sheet”. It’s non-stick-ish and the batter has much shortening, so I didn’t grease the pan.

Aside from making yummy desserts, the point of all of this is to attune my intuition with reality. These seemed a bit runny, but it’s straight-from-Denver flour (so dry) and they are holding their shape. 350 for 12 minutes seemed reasonable.

Perhaps I’m to the point where my intuition should be listened to. But not unreservedly…

The reminder was baked as a whole and will be cut, once it cools.

Greasing the sheet would have probably helped. They are yummy crumbs. Mike suggested serving them over ice cream, which I think is a brilliant idea. I did mention that there is a Safeway just two blocks away, right?

A few fun notes about my new kitchen (which will be gutted and remodeled as soon as the one in the other unit is gutted and remodeled and we move up there)…

When Quality Assurance notices there is no switch for the oven light on the newly redesigned – and already fabbed by the 1000s – control panel for the ACCUBAKE system:

This house is about the same age as my Kitchen Aid, so I know that there were electrical kitchen appliances in common use, but apparently only four per kitchen, since that’s how many outlets it has (there is a third behind the refrigerator) – and I’m sure they have GFI breakers in the service panel since the previous owner wouldn’t have rented the place, otherwise, right?

The hunting-lodge pine cabinets are the least of its issues

I’m sure I’m going to regulation-eschewer hell, but the Kitchen Aid mixer debuted in 1919 and GFI outlets were not required in kitchens until the 1990s – even microwaves beat the requirement by at least 20 years. I’ll compromise and mix one-handed wearing rubber-soled shoes. For what it’s worth, the cord stapled to the cabinet for the light above the sink predates me.

Back on topic: I’ll give these another try with more flour. I blame the phrase “medium orange”. What we consider “medium” (it wasn’t labelled so) these days would have been considered extra colossal when the recipe was written. Selective breeding is great, but I can hardly wait until they start glowing! How fun would those cookies be?

Update: Serving Suggestion (orange sherbet and cashew not-ice-cream):