Feeling Orange

I'm finally settling into our temporary home in South Africa (we move to our own place in 20 days...but who's counting?!) and I am loving my 8 to 5 work day. Leaves me the time in the evenings to enjoy making dinner, eating it...and of course having the obligatory bottle of wine...because the wine here is cheap and AMAZING. A few of my favorites so far - The Chocolate Block from Stellenbosch and Diemersfontein Pinotage both complex reds that go well with any meal. All this extra time makes me miss my family and friends A LOT...so I fill my time with reading and baking - two wonderful pasttimes! I just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's book 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' - inspired me to move into a place here where we could start our own garden. It also taught me to pay attention to eating what is in season - here that's oranges!

I sometimes find a little downtime to read some of my favorite blogs. I've also come across some really amazing new ones like Eggbetaer and Vanilla Garlic. Vanilla Garlic's Garret McCord posted a wonderfully easy recipe on Simply Recipes using, you guessed it - 0ranges.

I made these Orange Poppyseed cookies lastnight for a staff meeting...I'm feeling a lot of pressure to live up to my words here and I think these will do the trick. They didn't turn out as crispy as the picture on Simply Recipes...but I love them...fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside with a hint of orange flavor all throughout. I'm not sure what flavor poppy seeds add - but they certainly look pretty! I also added some almonds because I had them sitting around.

Orange Poppyseed Cookies w/ Almonds
Adapted from Simply Recipes 2008

2/3 cup sugar
½ butter @ room temperature
1 egg @ room temperature
1 tbsp orange zest
1 ¼ cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 handful chopped, raw almonds

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Add the egg and orange zest until evenly mixed

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly sift it into the butter mixture until just combined. Fold in the poppy seeds and almonds.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown.