Orange Slices in the Osage

Orange slices in the Osage

Now I don’t know about you but one thing I never liked was Orange Slices not to be confused with Osage Oranges.  You do know what that is?  It is the old hedge apples planted about everywhere during the dust bowl days to save the soil from blowing.  Back to those Orange Slices. 

Every Christmas when the Methodist Church had the Christmas program and at the end of the program Santa Claus would come and hand out a brown paper bag filled with STUFF.  That STUFF was typically and apple or orange, some hard candy (typically made in Dexter, Kansas across the state line), some chocolate drops (basically some type of cooked sugar center with chocolate around it, Dad called them something I cannot bring myself to write), and last of all Orange Slices.  I just hoped I did not get that bag with Orange Slices.  Mom loves those dang things and she would take all the Orange Slices she could get.  Sometimes Mom (Opal) would buy a bag of Orange Slices for the family as a treat.  It was not a treat to me.

On top of all that Mom made “Orange Slice Cookies” and still does today.  Now I will have to tell you my mom was one of the best cooks you could find but there is one thing I did not like back then and still do not have a taste for today, Orange Slices.  So here is something special for those who like Orange Slices:

Orange Slice Cookies

1 ½ cup brown sugar

½ cup Crisco (we need to talk about Crisco)

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

½ cup minute oats

½ teaspoon salt

1 lb. orange slice candy cut up into small pieces

½ cup flour

½ cup chopped nuts (everything goes better with nuts)

½ cup coconut

Cream Sugar and Crisco then add eggs and beat until light

Add 2 cups flour soda and salt

Blend

Dice candy mix ½ cup flour

Stir in coconut, nuts and oats

Roll in balls-press with fork

Bake on greased cookie sheet

Bake 325 degrees 10 to 12 minutes

And that is direct from the horse’s mouth, Opal Olson.  She likes these disgusting morsels and obviously I think they are right there with celery and liver.

So what do you learn from the Osage?

·         Orange Slices are disgusting

·         Love your mom and her cooking and don’t criticize her favorite cookies

·         Dogs don’t eat Orange Slices

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com