Dough
water
12 eggs
24 TB. sugar*
1 C. orange juice
13 C. flour
12 tsp. baking powder
2-1/4 C. shortening
Icing
2 lbs XXX sugar
juice of 2 oranges
juice of 2 lemons
Rainbow jimmies, or jimmies of your color preference**
Melt shortening. Mix with eggs, vanilla, 24 TB. sugar, 1 C. juice, baking powder, and flour. Knead with your hands until workable-- the dough should be smooth and elastic. Roll small pieces of the dough into snakes, then twist into knots or pretzel shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350F for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets onto sheets of waxed paper and let cool. Mix together the icing ingredients and spoon over the cookies to coat them. (Some will run down the sides onto the waxed paper, but that what it's there for.) If desired, sprinkle them with the jimmies while the icing is still wet. Allow the icing to dry uncovered overnight before storing to allow it time to harden. Makes 400 cookies. (Each cookie is about the size of the walnut.)
_______
*Why, you ask, are the measurements in this recipe impossible units like "24 tablespoons of sugar"? Because the only way my mom could get the recipe off of Great-grandmom Canduci was to watch her while she made it. She, in the time-honored tradition of Italian women, practiced the "dump and eyeball" method of cooking, a tradition still alive today in the best kitchens. (Think about it: do you ever see a participant on "Top Chef" or "Chopped" cautiously measuring out exactly 2 teaspoons of salt?) However, it's kind of hard to convey this in print. So, my mom sat and counted dumps.
**One of my first memories of college life (several years ago) is my first roommate's boyfriend. He had come over to our room to visit her and help her set up a toy bear that rode a toy unicycle across a length of fishing line. It was a pretty neat toy, but don't ask me why she wanted it in her dorm room. Regardless, the bear had a tendency to slip off the fishing line and have unfortunate accidents with the area that, had he been a real bear, would have contained reproductive properties. Us all being about eighteen years old, her boyfriend took great joy in saying, in a gravelly voice that was supposed to be the bear's voice, that he wanted my roommate to knock him off the fishing line. "KICK ME IN THE JIMMIES!" he (the boyfriend) crowed and, of course, we all laughed hysterically. Did I mention that we were eighteen? In fact, I think he was nineteen and a mighty sophomore in that Hall of Learning. Anyway, jimmies, besides being the gonads of a toy bear, are also small cylinder-shaped candies used for sprinkling onto desserts and particularly ice cream.
water
12 eggs
24 TB. sugar*
1 C. orange juice
13 C. flour
12 tsp. baking powder
2-1/4 C. shortening
Icing
2 lbs XXX sugar
juice of 2 oranges
juice of 2 lemons
Rainbow jimmies, or jimmies of your color preference**
Melt shortening. Mix with eggs, vanilla, 24 TB. sugar, 1 C. juice, baking powder, and flour. Knead with your hands until workable-- the dough should be smooth and elastic. Roll small pieces of the dough into snakes, then twist into knots or pretzel shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350F for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets onto sheets of waxed paper and let cool. Mix together the icing ingredients and spoon over the cookies to coat them. (Some will run down the sides onto the waxed paper, but that what it's there for.) If desired, sprinkle them with the jimmies while the icing is still wet. Allow the icing to dry uncovered overnight before storing to allow it time to harden. Makes 400 cookies. (Each cookie is about the size of the walnut.)
_______
*Why, you ask, are the measurements in this recipe impossible units like "24 tablespoons of sugar"? Because the only way my mom could get the recipe off of Great-grandmom Canduci was to watch her while she made it. She, in the time-honored tradition of Italian women, practiced the "dump and eyeball" method of cooking, a tradition still alive today in the best kitchens. (Think about it: do you ever see a participant on "Top Chef" or "Chopped" cautiously measuring out exactly 2 teaspoons of salt?) However, it's kind of hard to convey this in print. So, my mom sat and counted dumps.
**One of my first memories of college life (several years ago) is my first roommate's boyfriend. He had come over to our room to visit her and help her set up a toy bear that rode a toy unicycle across a length of fishing line. It was a pretty neat toy, but don't ask me why she wanted it in her dorm room. Regardless, the bear had a tendency to slip off the fishing line and have unfortunate accidents with the area that, had he been a real bear, would have contained reproductive properties. Us all being about eighteen years old, her boyfriend took great joy in saying, in a gravelly voice that was supposed to be the bear's voice, that he wanted my roommate to knock him off the fishing line. "KICK ME IN THE JIMMIES!" he (the boyfriend) crowed and, of course, we all laughed hysterically. Did I mention that we were eighteen? In fact, I think he was nineteen and a mighty sophomore in that Hall of Learning. Anyway, jimmies, besides being the gonads of a toy bear, are also small cylinder-shaped candies used for sprinkling onto desserts and particularly ice cream.
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