Orange Snaps

Don’t preheat the oven yet - this cookie dough has to chill

1 ½ cups melted butter (3 sticks)

2 cups white sugar

½ cup frozen orange juice concentrate (I used Minute Maid)

2 beaten eggs (just beat them up with a fork)

4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ to 1 teaspoon orange zest*

4 cups flour (you don’t have to sift it)

⅓ cup white sugar for later

*The orange zest adds a burst of flavor. Zest is finely grated orange peel, just the orange part, not the white. You can use a grater to scrape peel from an orange, or a zester which removes thin layers of peel in strips. If you use a zester, you’ll have to finely chop the strips of peel with a knife.

Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Add the sugar and orange juice concentrate, and stir. Let the mixture cool slightly. Add the eggs, baking soda, salt, and orange zest, stirring after each addition. Add the flour in increments and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough at least 2 hours (overnight is even better).

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F., with rack in the middle position.

Roll the chilled dough into walnut-sized balls with your hands. Put ⅓ cup white sugar in a small bowl and roll the balls in it. Place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard cookie sheet. Press the dough balls down just a little so they won’t roll off onto the floor when you put them in the oven.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees F. The dough balls will flatten out by themselves. Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, put them in a freezer bag, and they’ll be fine for 3 months or so, if they last that long.

Yield: Approximately 10 dozen thin cookies, depending on cookie size.