Orange Juice Balls

It's been SOOO hot here in Texas that I just haven't wanted to cook anything. We're in that stage of summer where it's too hot to turn the oven on and it's too hot to stand outside next to a hot grill. If I were single, I'd probably just live off of sandwiches and cereal all summer, haha! The Lord has blessed me with a husband and 2 wonderful children who aren't as on board with that idea as I am. In any case, I've been thumbing through my recipes trying to find something "summery" to make. Hello Orange Juice Balls. No cooking required, yay! 

After making these, I'd say they were a flop in my book. They were really really wet and looking back, I think maybe I should have thawed out the orange juice and then measured the ½ cup. Instead, I packed my measuring cup with ½ cup of the frozen juice. Like I said, they were very wet (I couldn't add additional cookies because they got eaten up) and super tangy. I mean, they weren't terrible, I'd just tweak it a bit if I were to make them again. You can see in the pictures that the powdered sugar was soaked up instead of staying a white coating.

Here's my interpretation of the recipe:

Orange Juice Balls

1 - 7½ oz. pkg vanilla wafers (crush)

¾ c. Flaked coconut

¾ c. Powdered sugar

½ c. Undiluted frozen orange juice

Mix dry ingredients. Add juice & mix well.

Roll into small balls - - Then in powdered sugar

Makes about 30.

*I measured the orange juice without thawing it. Maybe next time thaw it before measuring it.

*I used additional powered sugar to roll the balls in. Not the amount in the ingredients list. That was added to the dry ingredients.

*I froze the balls before rolling in powdered sugar and then kept them in a sealed container in the fridge.

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Crispy Oat Cookie

 

If you're looking for a good crispy and crunchy cookie, this is a good one. I made the rookie mistake of not making sure I had all the ingredients before I started mixing everything together. I went to get the oatmeal and didn't have any! We use steel cut oats, but I thought I had some old fashioned ones. Luckily my mom was coming over so she brought some. The dough was a little soft, not sure if that was because it was sitting on the counter until she got to my house. With all the extra goodies in these cookies, I definitely couldn't roll them into balls. It was more of a squish them into balls. I think they still turned out good. Apparently I don't know how to measure 1" so I only ended up with just over 6 dozen, not the 10 listed. And 15 minutes, in my oven, was the perfect time for these to bake.

My interpretation of the recipe:

Crispy Oat Cookies

1 cup butter softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup regular oats uncooked

1 cup crushed corn flakes

½ cup coconut

½ cup chopped nuts

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet - flatten with fork. Bake 325º for 15 minutes.          10 dozen

* I used unsalted butter

* I used light brown sugar

* For the nuts, I used pecans

* Made just over 6 dozen

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.

Dream Bars

We are smack dab in the middle of summer here in Texas! Today's high is supposed to be 107°! Needless to say we are trying to limit our oven use so I was looking for something I could make that wouldn't take too long to bake. 30 minutes baking time isn't too bad and I had everything on hand for this recipe so here it is.

These bars are sweet, gooey and easy to make. I could have gone the easy route and used my pastry cutter to cut the butter for the crust, but the recipe says to mix by hand so that's what I did. My butter was room temp, so it was easy to mix together. 

My interpretation of the recipe:

Dream Bars

½ cup butter or oleo

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

Mix together with hands and pat in a think layer on cookie sheet or pan (about 9"x12"). Bake 10 minutes at 350º

Then Mix Together

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

1 package coconut

1 cup nuts

2 Tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Spread this mixture over the first and bake 20 minutes at 350º. Cut in squares while hot.

* I used unsalted butter

* I used light brown sugar

* Instead of a package of coconut I measured out 2 cups. I didn't know how big the package used was.

* I used pecans for the nuts

* My pan was a 9x13

I hope you enjoy and give this recipe a second chance in your kitchen too.