Holidays Butter Cookies
Instructions:
An ideal drop cookie for improvisation ;I love them with a bit of spice and chopped walnuts. Be sure to handle this dough gently, taking care not to overwork it when mixing; good butter cookies are tender.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1/4 cup milk, plus more if needed
2 MAKES: 2 to 3 dozen
TIME: About 30 minutes
- Heat the oven to 375 F. Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar; add the vanilla and egg and beat until well blended.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add half the dry ingredients to the dough, beat for a moment, then add the milk (if you’re adding any ingredients like spices, nuts, etc., now is the time).
- Beat for about 10 seconds, then add the remaining dry ingredi ents and a little more milk, if necessary, to make a soft dough that can be dropped from a spoon.
- Drop tablespoon-size mounds of dough about 3 inches apart in rows and columns on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until the edges are browned, about 10 minutes. Cool for about 2 minutes on the sheets before using a spatula to transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling. (If icing or glazing, wait until they are cool and then decorate them right on the rack for a cleaner look; let set for about 10 more minutes.) Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature for no more than a day or two.
- Chocolate Cookies.
- A combination of unsweetened and sweetened chocolate is good here, but you can use just one or the other (if you use all unsweetened, increase the sugar to 1 cup): Increase the milk very slightly, to about 1/3 cup. Melt 1 ounce each semisweet and unsweetened chocolate and add to the mixture after combining the wet and dry ingredients.
- Sour Cream Cookies.
- Sour cream not only gives the cookies a tangy taste but lets you use baking soda, whose flavor is less obtrusive than that of baking powder. They may be dropped and baked as directed or refrigerated for 1 hour, then rolled into walnut-size balls before baking: Substitute 1 teaspoon baking soda for the all of the baking powder and about 1/2 cup sour cream for the milk.
- Olive Oil Cookies.
- Substitute a good extra virgin olive oil (note that extra virgin’s flavor may dominate) for the butter; increase the flour by 1/2 cup.
- Sweet-Savory Cookies.
- Rosemary, black pepper, and red wine make for an unusual but delicious cookie; make these with olive oil or butter, increasing the flour by 1/4 cup if you use olive oil: Decrease the sugar to 1/2 cup. Add 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary) with the other dry ingredients. Substitute red wine for the milk and bake as directed. When done, dust very lightly with sifted confectioners’sugar. For slightly crunchier, 1 /2 cup cornmeal for more flavorful cookies, substitute 1/2 cup of the flour.