Cookies in Milk

Father Frost revisited us for the duration of Easter break. Knowing that it could not last too long, considering that March is practically over, we enjoyed the view of the whirling snowflakes outside. Books, crafting hands, imaginative play, romping and last but in no way least cooking and baking filled our days. One especially pleasing goody was the simplest of all our baking efforts; it did not get ohs and ahs, rather our slipper clad feet tapped away under the heavy wood table with possibly a drip of milk on our chins. It had been ages since I stirred up a bowl of sour creme cookies. They are understated cookies not attention grabbers; plain with a cakey bite. Consideration: should they be a nutmeg walnut creation, lemon zest and poppy, or chunked with chocolate. Choosing the first two variations, we were pleased to eat them warm fresh out of the oven but they were by far the best the day after we baked them. The next morning we broke them up, put them in a shallow wide tea cup and carefully drizzled milk in…for breakfast. mmm Thick, dense, crater filled sour creme cookie pieces in a wide cup of milk. Spoon not necessarily required.

Having looked through my cookbooks and at on-line recipes, I determined there are no significant variations on the basic dough for sour cream cookies, only that some use baking soda or both baking soda and baking powder. The following recipe is based on the Sour Cream Cookie recipe in my dog eared college copy of “the New York Times Bestseller” Betty Crocker´s Cookbook. I have altered it by adding more vanilla, more nutmeg, include nuts and combine the ingredients slightly differently. The possibilities with this basic cookie dough are broad: make it as spicy, nutty, lemony or chocolaty as you crave.

Sour Cream Cookies

1 cup/250g softened butter

2 cups/400g light brown sugar

3 eggs, gently beaten

2 tsp/10ml vanilla

4 cups/630g sifted flour

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup/250ml sour cream

1.5 cups finely hand chopped walnuts (if using processor careful not to pulverize)

preheat oven to 190°C/350°F

1. cream butter together with sugar until light

2.stir in eggs and vanilla

3. mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl.

4. alternately add dry ingredients and sour cream to to the butter mixture.

5. fold in walnuts

Place heaping teaspoons of dough on to a lined baking sheet.

Bake until gold, approx. 8 min. in a convection oven, a little bit longer for standard ovens.

Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies depending on how you heap your teaspoon.

My tips:

-add 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ground clove for a spicier taste

-add zest of 2 large lemons and 2 tbsp poppy seed for a brighter taste (and leave out the ground spices)

-jazz cookies up with a walnut or a lemon glaze for the sweeties