Vanilla Dreams

Welcome back cookie lovers! Today’s cookie is something completely new to me, but after making it just this once I know it’s a keeper. And I think it might be a little bit magic.

Why magic? Because it’s the simplest cookie to make–you don’t need softened butter, or refrigeration, or anything–but it’s so good! And it’s incredibly versatile, and could be dressed up or down in a million different ways. Do you have kids? This might be the perfect cookie to make with them, especially since the dough is egg-free and therefore 100 percent safe to munch on while you cook. Not that the threat of salmonella ever keeps ME from enjoying some fresh cookie dough.

It also satisfies my need for crispy and crunchy sugar cookies without all of the rolling. Cause when time is tight in the weeks leading up to the holidays, the prospect of rolling 8 dozen wafer thin sugar cookies can just seem waaaay too daunting. At least for me this year (sorry Mom)! Maybe after the holiday, but not before!

Vanilla Dreams
Adapted from King Arthur Flour’s Bakers Banter Blog

I’m a little bit in love with King Arthur Flour’s online operation. I’ve loved their flour for years, but a few months ago I discovered the website, and the Bakers Banter Blog, and I was really hooked. It’s quite a slick operation they have going on over there–they show you a fantastic recipe, and then they offer you a place to buy the key ingredients on their website. It’s fantastic! And totally addicting! The key ingredient for this recipe was baker’s ammonia, which I couldn’t find locally and didn’t have enough time to order from KAF. So I made this recipe with baking powder, but it still turned out wonderfully crunchy. Check out the King Arthur post for more ideas on how to trim these cookies.

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baker’s ammonia or 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• coarse or granulated sugar for topping, optional (I used red and green sprinkling sugar to create a festive look)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

Combine the vanilla, baker’s ammonia, and salt in a very small bowl. Stir to dissolve the ammonia; the salt won’t fully dissolve. Combine the vanilla mixture with the butter and sugar, and beat till smooth. Mix in the flour; the mixture will seem quite dry at first. But just keep beating until the dough comes together. If it seems like the butter has clumped to your mixer blade (this happened to me) scrape the butter off the blade and cut it into piece to facilitate the mixing.

Break off small pieces of dough (about 3/4 ounce). Roll the pieces into balls and if you’re using sprinkling sugar like I did, roll the balls in sugar at this point. Space them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2″ between them.

Bake the cookies until they’re a very light golden brown around the edges, about 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool. Store in an airtight bag or container to maintain that crunch–it’s the best part!

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