Honey-Orange Crumb Cookies - oranges

Method

• With a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler, shave off the peel of the oranges in long strips.
• Scrape away the bitter white pith from the inside of the peel, then dice the strips of zest into small pieces, about 1/4 inch square.
• You should have about a cup of diced peel.
• (Enjoy the rest of the orange as a fruit.)
• Pour the honey into the saucepan, set the pan over medium heat, and stir in the cut orange peel.
• Slowly bring the honey to a simmer, and cook, stirring frequently, until the squares of peel are slightly translucent, about 3 minutes.
• Stir the bread crumbs and 1 cup of the chopped walnuts into the honey, and return to a simmer.
• Stirring frequently, simmer the mixture gently for 6 minutes or so, until the bread crumbs have absorbed most of the honey, forming a dough that pulls away from the sides of the pan.
• Take the pan off the heat.
• With a brush or your fingers, spread a thin film of vegetable oil on your clean countertop or other hard work surface.
• Scrape the dough out of the pan onto the oiled surface and, with the lightly oiled blade of the metal spatula, spread it into a rough round or oblong layer, about 1/2 inch thick.
• Pour the remaining cup of chopped walnuts onto a plate or tray.
• Rub a bit of vegetable oil on your fingers and hands (so the dough wont stick), break off a bunch of teaspoon-sized pieces of warm dougha dozen or soand rapidly roll them into bite-sized balls, the size of grapes.
• While still warm, roll the balls in the nuts, so the whole surface gets a light nut coating, and place them on the parchment-lined tray.
• Working quickly, shape another batch of balls, and coat them with nuts.
• When cool, store panmelati in a cookie tin or other airtight container, lined with wax paper.
• They will keep for about a week.