New Cookie: Orange Cookies

     I buy random cookbooks from consignment shops, Good Will and yard sales. I also take any cookbooks that would like to be donated to me.  Well, I found a 2009 copy of "A Taste of Heaven" by Chapel By the Sea located in Melbourne Beach, FL at the Growing Pains Consignment Shop in Salisbury back around Easter this year.
     I while flipping through the pages last week, I found a recipe I wanted to try.  It seemed pretty straight forward and extremely easy, so I hand everything on hand so I thought I'd give it a try since I was doing some baking this weekend.
     The recipe was submitted by Jean Devenport / Winnie Devenport. Here is the recipe as written:

Orange Nut Cookies

3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup shortening, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 3 cup flour, 1 cup chopped nuts, 1 orange (juice and rind)
Dissolve baking soda in orange juice. Cream shortening with sugars, add eggs. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix until smooth. Add nuts and orange juice and rind. Drop teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 about 10 minutes.

     I had to read it 3 times to make sure I didn't miss something.  The baking soda is mentioned twice. So, I just dissolved the baking soda in the orange juice.  Also, the mention of rind, I wasn't sure exactly what it meant, so I just zested the orange.  I also didn't want to add the nuts, as I had used what I had for a Banana Nut Bread.  I am not one for greasing a baking sheet over and over, so I used parchment paper. Instead of dropping by teaspoonfuls, I rolled the dough into balls about the size of a walnut or large jawbreaker. Once they were baked, I immediately moved them to the rack to cool. They were squishy on top when the were removed from the oven but after they started to cool, they settled and the cookie is a natural chewy cookie.

     I am glad I didn't add the nuts, so now we call them Orange Cookies. I think they taste good without them.  Emma said they taste like a brown sugar cookie with just a hint of orange juice.  Michael just kept saying they were really good.
     Now, it has me wondering if I can change it to another citrus fruit????