Butter Cookies

For our competition this week, I made cookies based on Mark Bittman’s butter cookie recipe in “Cooking Everything.” I used his recipe as a guide but added more baking powder and some brown sugar. I omitted the vanilla extract because I think the taste is too strong. I like cookies that are cake like and chewy and I don’t like chocolate. I wanted puffy cookies with white chocolate and dried cranberries with pecans. I had a bar of coconut white chocolate that I got as a stocking stuffer from my in-laws and I had some leftover dried cranberries from another recipe.

Butter Cookies
1 sick butter room temp
¾ cup white sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups all purpose flower
pinch salt
¼ cup milk
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup coconut white chocolate

Set the oven to 375. Cream the butter and sugars in a standing mixer. Combine dry ingredients. Add half the dry ingredients to the creamed butter/sugar. Add the dried cranberries, pecans and chocolate. Add the milk and rest of dry ingredients. Mix for a short time and drop cookies onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cook for 10 min. Cool on a cookie rack.

Bittman’s Original Recipe
1 stick butter
¾ cup white sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flower
pinch salt¼ cup milk

Menu, Week of Jan 26

Breakfast Frittata
Dirty Rice
Couscous Casserole with Chard and Ground Lamb
Stir Fried Beef with Snow Peas & Cashews
Cold Salad
Sugar Cookie Contest