Cookies with Maggie
It has been quite some time since my granddaughter, Maggie, and I had a chance to spend time together in the kitchen. However, Maggie is spending her spring break with Grammie, and we are making up for lost time.
I informed Maggie that March was National Flour Month. There are so many things you can do with flour which made it somewhat difficult to choose. We resorted to one of our favorites – cookies! After choosing two different recipes, we set to work. The first recipe we tried was one I had spotted in a cookbook a few months ago. It was called “Cats’ Tongues.” It sounded easy, which it was. The problem came after baking. I don’t know if we did something wrong, but instead of having tongue-shaped cookies, we had ones that were very flat and extremely thin. They tasted okay, but I made the executive decision that it was a recipe that would not make it into this column.
Our next venture was sugar cookies made with self-rising flour. Maggie and I were well pleased with them. I let some of them bake a little longer because I like them nicely browned around the edges and on the bottoms. We gave this recipe two thumbs up.
Now we needed to find another recipe. Maggie spotted one in a magazine that she wanted to try. We operated on the ingredients list to suit what I had on hand. To make it easier to remove the end product from the pan, I lined it with aluminum foil, leaving enough extended over the edges of the pan to use as a “handle.” Then I coated the foil with no-stick cooking spray. Our Toffee Bars turned out to be a wonderful choice!
Self-Rising Crunchy Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar or coarse white sparkling sugar, to garnish
Beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.
Mix in egg, then flour. Scrape bottom and sides of the bowl; mix again, until thoroughly combined.
Chill dough for 30 minutes or longer.
Near end of the chilling period, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease or line two baking sheets with parchment.
Place 1/4 cup granulated or coarse white sparkling sugar in a bowl.
Use cookie scoop or spoon to make 1-inch to 1-1/2-inch balls. Drop them into sugar, then place balls sugar side up onto baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. The cookies will puff up and look soft, but fall and become crisp/crunchy as they cool.
Remove cookies from oven. Let rest on pan for 5 minutes; transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in air-tight container at room temperature for a week or so; freeze for longer storage.
Toffee Bars
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup brickle bits
2/3 cup white baking morsels
1 cup sliced almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a pastry blender or two forks, combine flour, brown sugar and butter until crumbly. Remove 1 cup of mixture and reserve.
In separate bowl, whisk milk, egg, baking soda and extract. Stir into flour mixture until combined; pour into greased and floured 13-by-9-inch pan.
Top with brickle bits, morsels, almonds, and reserved flour mixture. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 2 dozen.