Cook’s Butter Cookies

Cook’s Butter Cookies
(from a long-ago issue of "Cook's Illustrated" magazine

Master recipe

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
Tiny pinch salt
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons light cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening


1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone
paper

2. Mix flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix
yolks, cream, and vanilla together in a measuring cup.

3. Cream butter and shortening until lightened and pasty. Beat yolk mixture
into softened butter until just combined.

4. Add dry ingredients and heat until mixture begins to clump together
(about 18 to 20 seconds on lowest speed of electric mixer.)

5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently to shape
into a soft dough. (Can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 3
days or frozen up to 6 months.) Proceed with rolling, shaping, and baking
instructions under selected cookie.
Suggested shapes: Classic cut-outs, spirals made with another colored
dough, turnovers; mock thumbprints, petticoat tails.

Chocolate Butter Cookie Dough
Follow the Master Recipe, adding 1 ounce each melted unsweetened and
semisweet chocolates after sugar has been creamed with butter and
shortening.
Suggested shapes: Pinwheels with butter cookie dough; classic cut-outs
garnished with icing or melted white chocolate; Linzer cookies filled with
apricot or raspberry preserves; crescents coated with confectioner’s sugar.

Nut Butter Cookie Dough
Follow the Master Recipe, adding 1 cup toasted and cooled walnuts, pecans,
hazelnuts, or almonds after the dry ingredients are almost incorporated. If
using walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts, add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4
teaspoon nutmeg to the dry ingredients. If using almonds, reduce vanilla to
3/4 teaspoon and add 3/4 teaspoon almond extract.
Suggested shapes: Linzer cookies or Viennese crescents; simple cut-outs;
mock thumbprints.

Citrus Butter Cookie Dough
Follow Master Recipe; reduce vanilla to 1/4 teaspoon and add 1/4 teaspoon
each orange oil, lemon oil, and citric acid to the egg yolk mixture (See
Notes). After the sugar has been creamed with the butter and shortening,
add 1 tablespoon each orange, lemon, and lime zest, minced fine.
Suggested shapes: Classic cut-outs; citrus pinwheels.

Spice Butter Cookie Dough
Follow Master Recipe; reduce baking powder to 1 1/2 teaspoons and add 1/2
teaspoon baking soda. To the dry ingredients, add: 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon,
1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/8
teaspoon mace, and tiny pinch nutmeg. Substituted 1 cup brown sugar for the
white sugar and add 2 tablespoons molasses when creaming the sugar with the
butter and shortening. Reduce light cream from 3 tablespoons to 2
tablespoons.
Suggested shapes: Gingerbread men; classic cut-outs; Linzer cookies filled
with lemon curd.

Cooking Times: (all at 350º and 1 inch apart)

Mock Thumbprints: 15-17 minutes, or until golden.
Classic Cut-outs: 10-12 minutes
Pinwheels: (dough must be rolled into log and chilled >15 min) 12-15
minutes
Linzer Cookies: 10-12 minutes
Petticoat Tails: 15-17 minutes
Viennese Crescents: 15-17 minutes

Decorative Icing:
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
Food coloring (optional)
2-3 drops flavored extracts, to taste

Notes:

1. Citrus oils are available at candy-making supply stores or through mail
order from Williams-Sonoma (800) 541-2233

2. If you’re going to garnish the cookies, use the leftover egg whites as a
“glue” to hold the garnishes on.

3. If a dough begins to get too soft to be workable, put it in the
refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Don’t add extra flour, it would make the
cookies tough.

4. If the cookies are baked just beyond golden, the butter flavor comes out
more.

5. Cool cookies on a rack and store them in a covered container.
Source:

alt.med.fibromyalgia