We Gotseses TREES!!!

Soft Frosted Orange Cookies

Some of you may remember that late last year my husband and I bought a house and land. We’re in our late 40’s and this is the first time (for all intents and purposes) that we’ve owned a home, so we’re loving it. You can see a photo of the house here . Is it fancy? Not in the least. Is it new? Nope; about 13 years old. But it’s ours and it came with ten acres of land; 3 cleared and 7 wooded which was one of the major reasons we wanted it.

So this Spring we’re having fun doing a lot of planting. My husband tilled up a large area for us to have as a garden and we’re planting trees. So far we have two different types of apple trees, 2 fig trees, a peach tree and a nectarine tree. I want to get a couple more apple trees, one more peach tree as well as 2 or so pear trees, some cherry trees and some nut trees. It’s hard to describe how it feels to see this house becoming OUR dream… OUR future. It’s pretty darn cool.

Unfortunately, we live too far north for citrus trees though I do eventually want to get some dwarf citrus trees to pot, leave out in Summer and bring in during the cold seasons. If anyone has those and has any recommendations for a good place to buy them, please let me know 🙂

But for now, when I want a citrus dessert, I have to do what those of us not in very sunny climes have to do…. go to the store and buy some fruit.

I wanted cookies recently but not chocolate ones. I know I know… close your mouth and stop looking so amazed. There IS life beyond chocolate. Not always a good life, but life nonetheless. I say this as I am nibbling on a Scharffen Berger Milk Chocolate Bar I splurged on. Go figure.

I have a few Amish cookbooks that I love. I mean think about it; for the most part, what are you going to find in an Amish cookbook? Hearty homey, comforting types of foods. And what do I tend to cook? The same. So I saw a recipe in one of my cookbooks for Orange Cookies. They were described as soft, cakelike and definitely orange. While I don’t normally care for cakelike cookies, it sounded good that day so off I went to buy some oranges. These are pretty darn yummy. Like the description said, they are soft and cakelike. They are a very tender mild slightly tangy cookie on their own. The frosting is what sets them apart though my husband loved them plain with no frosting. So give these a try. They are great after school snacks or a light dessert.

Soft Orange Frosted Cookies

  • 1 6 ounce can orange juice concentrate, thawed (I bought a large can and we just used the extra for juice; cheaper)
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sour cream, room temp
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest (plus more for garnish)
  • Orange frosting-
  • 1 3 ounce package cream cheese, room temp
  • 1 tablespoon butter, room temp
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons oj concentrate
  • 2 tablespoons milk (I actually omitted the milk & just used all oj concentrate)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put aside 2 tablespoons of the oj for the frosting.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together for about 2 minutes. Then add the sour cream, eggs and remaining oj concentrate. Mix well.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the dry cookie ingredients, including the zest.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the bowl of sugar-butter mix. Using a wooden spoon (unless, as I’ve said before, you LIKE having a kitchen coated in flour from using a mixer in a bowl filled with flour hehe) mix well. Make sure the dough is thoroughly combined and there is no flour hiding at the bottom of the bowl.
  5. Using a 1 inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of the dough onto either non stick or parchment lined cookie sheets.
  6. Bake for ten minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned. Don’t over bake these.
  7. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the frosting. make sure not to frost these until they are completely cool.
  8. For the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. Beat well. Add the oj concentrate and milk and again, beat well. Add the powdered sugar and beat until mixture is smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick, add more oj or more milk.
  9. Spread on the cookies and garnish with some extra orange zest.

 


 

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22 thoughts on “We Gotseses TREES!!!

  1. I have 10 acres, including fruit trees. I have pecans, apricots, peaches, plums, pomegranate, and grapes.

    And I LOVE it. The quiet. The solitude. The shady trees. *sigh*

    I’d LOVE to have some of these, by the way. I’m starving to death right now.

    If you’re looking for someone with info about trees, ask Adam from Unorthodox Epicure. He’s a citrus guy!

  2. When the idea of chocolate is out, citrus does seem to be the next go to. Orange is an excellent choice. Tasty but always seems to take a back seat to lemon and lime! I need about 2 dz to fill up the cookie jar-yum!
    We are out in the sticks, which means many critters. My husband started a garden and put snake away all around and one big plastic owl to ward off hungry critters. It is doing pretty well, but I am surprised that animals have not gotten into it. Cool that you are planting at your place-nothing beats fresh produce!

  3. I have a weak spot for soft orange cookies. There was a brand that made them when I grew up (which I can no longer find or even recall the name) that I adored. I will have to try these.

  4. We have quite a number of trees on our property but no fruit bearers. So the best I can do is display my pretty lilacs from our lilac bushes and go to the farmers market for fresh oranges to make these cookies. They sound delicious.

  5. These sound great. Your orchard sounds absolutely fantastic, I’m very jealous. I don’t know if you can get quince over there but if you can, quince has the loveliest blossom and the fruits are divine.

  6. So awesome to have so much land to plant gardens and fruit trees! Im so jealous. I would love to have land like that one day! Enjoy making your dream home a reality!!! These cookies look super yummy!!

  7. The land sounds lovely and it feels great owning a home! Cookies look ah-may-zing! I love citrus in baked goods! Hugs to you~

  8. I am jealous of your trees and acreage and may never speak to you again…

    Okay that didn’t last long. Lovely recipe. Do they ship well? *hint hint*

  9. Oh, I love that you have land to plant things! Since we don’t know where we are going to end up yet, we keep apartment hopping, but I can’t wait to have our own house with a yard so I can plant a garden and I would love to at least plant a lemon tree.

  10. I love planting fruit trees, so fun to go out your back door to just pick a few apples for a snack 🙂 I WISH we lived in an area where we could have citrus and avocado plants, but no such luck!

    These cookies look great! Sometimes you just have to take a tiny break from chocolate.

  11. Janet…I am so envious that you get to plant so many types of fruit trees in your yard! It would be nice to have a harvest of fruit all year round! Are you thinking of planting any berry bushes? And I absolutely love orange as a flavor in most any baked good! And cake like cookies are just fine with me! These look fabulous! And if I were really missing chocolate….I bet a drizzle here would be perfect! Hope you have a GREAT weekend! (I have an Amish market that sets up in my area on the weekends…and their baked goods are wonderful….so I can just imagine what great things are in that cookbook!)

  12. Mmmmmm….your soft cookies remind me of my childhood…so good!!! And I’m so excited about your fruit trees…I wish we had enough yard to do the same 🙂

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