best dessert recipes: Orange Balls

Orange Balls

This is an old recipe my sister Helen and I made at home when we were young. Neither of us knows the source of the recipe we used back then, but we both remembered making these as we were growing up. After we had talked about the recipe, Helen found a copy of it in a handwritten cookbook that her husband Henry's mother had made for him. We later found a copy of the same recipe in a very old cookbook called Palate Pleasers that our Aunt Lillian had given to each of us many years ago. That cookbook was not dated, but it was put together by the ladies of the Pine Tree Church of Christ in Longview, Texas.
My sister also remembered making these for one of her boyfriends in high school, who by the way, was quite impressed with her culinary skills. The punch line here is there is no actual cooking involved in this recipe!

One issue I ran into with this recipe was that I couldn't find a 6 ounce can of frozen orange juice concentrate at my local grocery store. I don't know if that size is available in other areas, but I had to buy a 12 ounce can and use half for this recipe.

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Orange Balls

1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers, crushed

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 (16 ounce) package powdered sugar

1 (6 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (or use half a 12 ounce can)

1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups coconut

Crush the vanilla wafers in a food processor. Combine crushed vanilla wafers with melted butter, powdered sugar, orange juice concentrate, and pecans; mix well. Form into small balls and roll in coconut to coat. Place on a waxed paper lined sheet pan. Chill until firm. Store in refrigerator.

This dough is stiff and easy to form into balls.