Oranges
Well, here we are in the village, and the day we came in, our neighbor came with this bag of oranges from her tree. Boy, the way the Lord provides is just wonderful!
Now I’m in the process of looking for recipes that make use of them. Here are a few recipes that I am planning to use to take advantage and not waste a single one of these blessings.
I’m going to make these Whoopie pies for our friends on Sunday. We are having Luis & Conchi for a meal after church and I’ll serve these for dessert. When I chatted with Conchi, we agreed to just have a simple family meal together. This can only happen in Spain with really good friends. They are a continual blessing to us and we are thankful.
Orange Almond Cream Whoopie Pies
30 min | 30 min prep
SERVES 30
- For the Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 – 2 orange, zest of (depending how orangey you want the cookies)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
For the Almond Cream Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- Preheat oven 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In another bowl, mix the egg, oil, orange zest and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, alternating with the buttermilk, until all the ingredients are well combined.
- Drop the dough, a teaspoonful at a time keeping the shape as rounded as possible, onto the prepared baking sheet, taking care to leave enough space between the cookies as they expand while baking.
- Bake about 8 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges, but do not overbake for they will get hard. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies are cooling, prepare the filling. In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese and butter until light and well blended. Add the sifted powder sugar, in batches, until the filling is perfectly smooth. Add the almond extract, mix well.
- To fill the cookies, use a pastry bag or spoon to spread the filling onto the the flat side of one cooking and then sandwich another cookie on top.
*It’s nice to have all the ingredients in the house already! Here is another recipe to use the oranges. These I will use when we have house guests for 3 days at the end of the month.
Blueberry and Orange Cupcakes
37 min | 10 min prep
SERVES 18 , 18 cupcakes
- 1 white cake mix (515 g)
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 orange
- 2 3/4 cups frozen blueberries
- In a large bowl, prepare the cake mix by mixing it with water, eggs and oil (follow the instruction on the box). Finely grate the orange peel (reserve a little bit of zest to garnish, if wanted). If wanted, you can toss 3/4 cup of blueberries in a little bit of flour and incorporate delicately to the dough with the zest.
- Distribute the dough in 18 greased muffin tins. Distribute 1/2 cup of blueberries on each cupcake. Cook in the center of a preheated oven of 325 F for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, press the orange to obtain 1/4 cup of juice. In a small saucepan, bring to boil the orange juice and remaining of blueberries. Reduce heat and let simmer 5 minutes (add sugar if wanted, but just a little bit). Let cool. Serve the cupcakes with the blueberry syrup and garnish with orange zest if wanted.
* again, I’m looking to use the ingredient that I have on hand. Our kids, Jerusha and Nathanial brought us cake mixes
and I have blueberries in the freezer. LOVE IT!
Madrid
37°
