Orange Blossom Cookies

I have been challenged!  That's right, challenged!  I have a two day meeting this week and on the second day a few of the participants bring some of their Christmas cookies to share.  It has been happening for the last few years and let me tell you there are some pretty good tasting treats put out on the break table.  So this year I decided to make something that I can take.  

I was in luck.  We just received a Penzey's Spice catalog that was featuring some new Christmas Cookies that use their spices and extracts.  The Orange Blosoms No Bake cookies caught our eye.  So this past weekend I gathered all of the ingredients together and mixed up a batch to take with me tomorrow.  But before I packed them up my hubby and our little guy got to sample them.  We think the orange flavor is going to be a good surprise.

Penzey's is a great mail order spice store that we have been using for a couple of years.  They do have some retail stores, but not in our area.  The closet we had was one that was in Grand Central Station, which closed about a year ago and moved to a large mall outside of the city.  It was always a great stop when visiting the city.  So, we are hoping that someday we can have one close to us again.

My bowl of crushed Nilla wafers.  

Orange Blossom Cookies

1 12 oz.-box* vanilla wafers, crushed (or, make your own with our easy recipe)

2 Cups powdered sugar

1 6 oz.-can orange juice concentrate, thawed, undiluted (3/4 Cup if you are working from a bigger can)

1/2 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT

1/2 Cup butter (1 stick), softened

1 Cup walnuts or pecans, finely chopped

1 to 2  Cups sweetened coconut flakes (recipe called for 1 Cup, we ran out and needed 2)

 

Crush the vanilla wafers to make fine crumbs. A blender or a rolling pin both work well. (For us a food processor was much better for crushing the cookies) Add the powdered sugar, juice, VANILLA, butter and nuts; mix well. Shape into 1-inch balls; roll in coconut (finely crushed nuts work well too). Chill until firm. Note: The longer they sit, the better they taste! Also fantastic made with lemonade instead of orange juice.

* The standard box of vanilla wafers now seems to be 11 oz., not 12. It still worked for us, but we added 1/3 cup extra powdered sugar to stiffen the dough enough to roll.