Orange Almond Strips

Just a quick post.  Busy weekend ahead!

Today started way too early with a kid having nightmares, snowplough lights flashing on the highway, and all the fun electrical sounds related to the power flashing on and off multiple times through the night.  Kevin had fun manually emptying our close-to-overflowing sump hole beneath the stairs - it doesn't work so well when the power goes out and the power tends to go out when it's stormy.  We got hit with a (pretty) ice storm that wasn't nearly as bad as they claimed it would be!  The boys got a snow day (in April?) out of it and among the regular Friday house cleaning blitz and endless laundry, we tackled the dungeon (aka the basement.)   Do you know how annoying it is to do laundry when the power keeps flickering?  We cleaned and tidied and even found a long electric slot car race track thingy - that took waaaay too long to put together - but resulted in lots of giggling.   

We ran off to church to set up for a gardening workshop for our women's group tomorrow.  Had to hit Timmies for a treat... and then figured I should bake some cookies for previously mentioned workshop and cross my fingers hoping the power stayed on.   I decided to try a new recipe and my only complaint is that the yield was not what they indicated it would be - I doubled the recipe and ended up with about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.   

These Orange Almond Strips (with a 4 star rating from the Robin Hood baking website) were pretty easy and they're pretty yummy, and apparently they freeze well.  I think they tasted okay even without the glaze (I'm not a glaze person.) and I couldn't find my almonds.  If I had almonds to top them, I think I would leave them without the glaze, but without the almonds and the glaze they just looked too boring.


Ingredients:

Cookie:1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, softened
1 cup (250 mL) sugar
1 (1) egg
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) orange rind, grated
1/2 tsp (2 mL) almond extract
1 3/4 cups (425 mL)  All Purpose Flour
milk
1/2 cup (125 mL) almonds, coarsely chopped


Icing:
1 cup (250 mL) icing sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp (1 mL) almond extract
2 tbsp (30 mL) orange juice


Directions:

1. BEAT butter, sugar and egg on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add baking powder, rind, extract and half the flour. Mix well. Beat in remaining flour. Work dough with hands to form a smooth dough. Divide dough into 4. Shape each portion on lightly floured board into a 9" (23 cm) long roll. Place 2 rolls 4" (10 cm)apart on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten with hands to 2" (5 cm) wide. Brush top of rolls lightly with milk. Sprinkle with almonds, pressing in lightly.


2. BAKE at 325ºF (160ºC) for 15-20 minutes or until edges are light brown. While warm, cut strips crosswise on a diagonal in 1" (2.5 cm) wide strips. Cool.

3. COMBINE icing ingredients using enough juice to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cooled cookies.


These will be a go-to in my bring-with recipe collection.  Great for a cookie exchange or just an afternoon of baking.  They'd be perfect with a cup of tea.  They have a subtle citrus flavour and a melt-in-your-mouth texture.   Super yum!      

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