No Cook Orange Balls

We used to make these all the time when I was younger. While they aren't quite as good as I remember, it would make a nice layer for an ice cream dessert.

Orange Balls

INGREDIENTS:
1 box Nilla Wafers, crushed
1 bag shaved coconut
1 can frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cups powdered sugar
powdered sugar for rolling

DIRECTIONS
Mix the Nilla Wafers, coconut, orange juice and sugar together. Roll into 1" balls (this is sticky and messy!) and roll in powdered sugar. Enjoy.

To make it easy, I just throw the box of Nilla Wafers in a food processor and pulse into crumbs, then add powdered sugar and pulse a few, then add the rest and pulse until mixed.

I envision this working better as part of an ice cream dessert. A Nilla Cookie crust, with a layer of this orange mixture, a layer of French Vanilla Ice Cream, topped with some coconut and mandarin oranges.

UPDATE:

I tried using the orange balls as part of an ice cream dessert and that didn't turn out quite well either. I think this is one of those things that I have to chalk up to a skewed chilhood memory. I think the extreme sweetness and stickiness of these is just the sort of thing that kids love and makes adults cringe.

Cookie Swap Part 3: Peppermint Cookies

I make these cookies every year at Christmas, and short of gingerbread they have become the quintessential Christmas cookie in my mind. The dough is meant for shaped cookies, and is firm without being too crunchy or too dry. The peppermint pieces inside melt and become slightly chewy bits in the cookies. These are the perfect compliment to a cup of hot cocoa in front of the fireplace.

These have frosting drizzled on top of them, so to transport these I used 4 clear plastic plates per dozen layering a plate face up, 7 cookies, plate face down, plate face up, 5 cookies, plate face down. Then I went around the plates with saran wrap to keep them from shifting. This worked very well and got the cookies there in 1 piece and didn't mess up the frosting on top.

Peppermint Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
7 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
3/8 cup milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups crushed candy canes
Extra sugar for tops

1 tub basic cream cheese frosting
OR
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 brick cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla

2 drops red food coloring
2 drops peppermint oil (if you have peppermint extract, use 1/4 tsp)
Water

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream butter until fluffy.
Combine sugar and cream into butter until fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating after each.
Mix flour, salt and baking powder together.
Mix together milk and vanilla extract.
Alternate adding flour and milk to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
At this point the dough is very thick, you may need to finish mixing by hand.
Mix in the crushed candy canes.
Form into 1' balls and place on cookie sheet (these will not spread, but don't put them too close or you can't get them off).
Flatten to about 1/4' thickness with a smooth bottomed glass dipped in sugar (Dip in water the first time to get the sugar to stick to the glass).
Cook in 350 F oven for 12 minutes (edges should be very lightly browned).
Cool on pan for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks.

Frosting:
Open container of cream cheese frosting, or in mixing bowl beat together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla.
Separate frosting into 2 bowls (1/2 each).
Add 2-4 Tbsp water to each and whisk until drizzling consistency.
Add peppermint oil and food coloring to one bowl and whisk until light pink throughout.
Drizzle the white frosting and then the pink frosting over each of the cookies. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Transfer to containers.
To keep frosting pretty, put risers and a sturdy layer between each layer of cookies.

Vanilla Pears and Caramel Sauce

As I mentioned, I used the pears from my Thanksgiving Centerpiece to make Vanilla Pears inspired by this post by Angelina of Dustpan Alley. While I will make these again sticking a little bit closer to what she specifies, this was just a quickie to serve with ice cream that evening.

Vanilla Pears and Caramel Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
3-6 pears, peeled, cored and sliced in 8ths(I used Comice and Red Anjou)
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream

VANILLA PEARS DIRECTIONS:
Combine water and sugar in small saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until dissolved
Bring sugar water to simmer
Add vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon, stirring to combine
Add pears, simmer 10-15 minutes until heated through and soft
Remove pears gently with a slotted spoon

CARAMEL SAUCE DIRECTIONS:
Contine to simmer sugar mixture from Vanilla Pears until reduced

Reduce to approx 1 cup and until it takes on a light golden color and falls off the spoon in a steady drizzle (rather than dribbling off) when lifted from the mixture. If you aren't sure about the drizzle, just concentrate on quantity and color.

Remove from heat and quickly whisk in heavy cream
Reduce heat to low and whisk mixture until reduced by about 1/2 cup, depending on how thick you want your caramel. If you like it very drizzly, don't reduce it much at all. I like it fairly thick, spoonable type consistency, so I reduced mine quite a bit. It will thicken as it cools, so keep that in mind as well.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This is a wonderful dense cake batter that holds up well in bundt cakes or with added fruits. It's not as dense as a pound cake and it rises quite a bit so don't overfill the pans.

Sour Cream Cake in Bundt Pan with a layer of Spiced Apples and a Vanilla Icing


Sour Cream Cake in Loaf Pan with a layer of Spiced Apples and a Caramel Crunch Topping



Sour Cream Coffee Cake in 8" Round Cake Pan with Vanilla Pear filling and Caramel Topping with Chopped Nuts

Sour Cream Cake

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon/sugar mixture (1/8 c sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 c chopped nuts)

DIRECTIONS:
Grease and flour a pan, either 8" deep round, bundt pan, or large loaf pan.
Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy
Beat in eggs, one at a time
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and baking powder
In a separate bowl, mix together sour cream and vanilla
Add in 1/4 of the dry ingredients, then 1/3 of the sour cream mixture at a time, beating after each addition, ending with the final 1/4 of the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overbeat
If using a bundt or round pan, sprinkle half of cinnamon sugar mixture into bottom of pan
Fill pan with 1/2 of the cake batter
Sprinkle 1/2 of cinnamon sugar mixture over batter
Top with remaining batter
If using a loaf pan, top with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture