Orange Chocolate Butter Balls

Yesterday, I bought Cookie Cravings, the e-cookbook by Maria Lichty of Two Peas and TheirPod. What an awesome idea, aye? As I was swiping through the pages, I came upon her Lemon Drop Cookies. They looked elegant... like something one would have at a tea party with fancy hats and lace gloves. Sound familiar? I’ve probably been watching too much Downton Abbey. I wanted them, but we were running low on unsalted butter. I fretted, if I used salted butter, what would the cookies taste like? Oh well, maybe some melted chocolate chips will sweeten it some and an orange would add to its sweetness in lieu of the tart lemon? It’s worth a try.

In the past year, I have been baking with whole wheat flour, using it along with regular all-purpose flour or just by itself. It’s sweeter and has more body than regular flour. So, whole wheat flour it was for these cookies plus some rolled oats freshly ground in the blender. This definitely contributed to a richer and nuttier texture in these lovely things. I threw in some poppy seeds too, just because.

Guys, think Russian Tea Balls... but with a decadent orange chocolate flavor. Rich and bright tastes, with buttery softness that melts and crumbles in your mouth, and a hearty fullness coming from good grains. That salted butter that I worried about definitely gave these cookies real flavor.

Sixteen cookies came out of the oven yesterday . Tonight, there’s only three left. I would like to think that I didn’t eat six in the span of two days, but unfortunately I did. DFJ is the real culprit, but since he sprained his ankle on our trail run/hike last Sunday, he’s excused from being bad.

Orange Chocolate Butter Balls (Makes 16 cookies)

Inspiration from Lemon Drop Cookie recipe, Cookie Cravings by Maria Lichty

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup oat flour (from old fashioned rolled oats ground in a food processor or blender)

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp poppy seeds

zest of a small orange

1 stick salted butter, melted (yep, you read it right, salted butter)

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh orange juice

a tad of butter to grease the cookie sheet

In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, oat flour, baking powder, salt, poppy seeds, and orange zest.

Place the butter and chocolate chips separately in oven safe ramekins and let melt in the oven at 400 degrees F for a couple of minutes. When there is sufficient liquid in the butter, spoon some into the chocolate chip ramekin to aid in the melting process of the chips. Move melted butter and chocolate to another bowl and stir well using a spoon.

Add the powdered sugar and brown sugar into the bowl of mixed butter and chocolate. Using an electric hand mixer set on low, mix well together. Pour in the fresh orange juice and continue to mix on low speed. Gradually pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix on low speed until everything is well combined. The dough doesn't really come together to form a ball, but it is wet enough to roll into balls.

Move the oven wire rack to the middle then preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with butter. Roll the dough into 16 small balls. Bake for 14 minutes.

 Give these babies a try but try not to eat them all in two days…