ORANGE CRISPS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 cup melted butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ½ pound)

2 cups white (granulated) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 large eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

1 cup chopped nuts (measure AFTER chopping—any nut you like will do—I used walnuts)

Zest from one orange (zest is the finely grated orange part of the peel)

2 cups GROUND dry oatmeal (measure BEFORE grinding—I used Quaker’s Quick 1-Minute and zooped it up in my food processor with the steel blade)

Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for one minute. Let it sit for a few seconds and then stir it to see if it’s melted. If the butter has not melted, heat it again in increments of 20 seconds until it’s melted.

Let the butter cool to room temperature.

Add the white sugar to the butter and beat until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated.

Mix in the vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda. Mix well.

Stir in the beaten eggs.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.

Mix in the chopped nuts. Try to distribute them evenly. You want some in each cookie.

Add the zest from one orange and mix it in thoroughly.

If you haven’t already done so, measure your oatmeal and grind it with a food grinder, or in a food processor with the steel blade until it’s the consistency of coarse sand.

Add the ground oatmeal to your bowl and mix it in. (If you’re not using an electric mixer, this will take a little muscle since the resulting dough will be fairly stiff.)

Roll walnut-sized dough balls with your hands and place them on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, 12 cookie balls to a standard sheet. You can also line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray that if you’d prefer.

If your dough is too sticky to roll, place the bowl in the refrigerator for thirty minutes and then try again.

Once the dough balls are on the cookie sheet, press them down with the tines of a fork in a crisscross pattern (the way you’d do with peanut butter cookies.)

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Cool the cookies on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 6 to 7 dozen delicious cookies, depending on cookie size.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CRISPS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Follow the instructions for Orange Crisps EXCEPT:

Reduce the cup of chopped nuts to one-half cup of chopped nuts.

Add one cup of miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips (a 6-ounce bag) right after you mix in the chopped nuts. Then proceed as directed.

Yield: 7 to 8 dozen delicious cookies that Delores adores.