#15 Learn to Cook/Bake Something New

Let's face it...I am a horrible cook!  Most likely because I don't really eat anything so I have no idea how it is suppose to turn out.  And when it comes to baking I have a few tricks up my sleeves but nothing that impressive.  Everything that I do know how to cook and bake are family recipes like Grandma's mac 'n cheese and of course our holiday candy that we are required to make every year (seriously, I think my friends would hurt me if I didn't make the candy one year).  So I decided that when I completed item #15 I wanted it to be something that was a family recipe and tradition.

Christmas is my favorite time of year because of the traditions both old and new.  One of my traditions is putting White Christmas on and watching it while mom bakes our famous Orange Cookies (and by famous I mean "everyone should know about them and love them but only our family does!").  I usually go in every now and then to help but I have never sat down and made them from start to finish with mom.  This year was going to be different, little did I know that I wasn't going to help mom but instead she was making me make them all by myself!

Our famous Orange Cookie recipe has been passed down from generation to generation for awhile now.  Mom thinks that the recipe is over 100 years old.  But let me clarify something here, when I say recipe what I mean is a list of ingredients.  That is all.  And even the ingredients are iffy. 4-5 cups of flour (mom says it depends on the amount of juice you get from the orange).  Or my favorite for the icing...powder sugar.  That's it nothing else.  Mom says you just know! Who would have guest that my most adventurous post would be "Bake Something."   

I learned that making these cookies is an art and the more I make them the more I will be able to "just know" like mom!  They turned out great and even taste like they are suppose to!  I guess the real test will be on Boxing Day when the fam eats them!

PS~ Quick word of advice...when going to use an electric mixer make sure it isn't on too high!  I learned this the hard way!