Butter Cookies

I'm giving Paula Deen and Ina Garten a run for the money in the butter department with this post. A couple of years ago, I took a holiday baking class at the Midwest Culinary Institute in Cincinnati. The teacher was one of the former owners of the Virgina Bakery. The Virginia Bakery was a Cincinnati institution on Ludlow Avenue in Clifton for many years. Sadly, it closed in 2000. This recipe was one of the recipes we learned to make. I like this recipe because it yields a large amount of cookie dough and I get to measure flour and sugar with my kitchen scale. Measuring with a scale is much more precise than measuring with measuring cups. Plus it is an excuse to acquire another kitchen gadget. This butter cookie has a wonderful, rich buttery taste. Great for your holiday party tray.

The recipe yields a whopping four pounds of cookie dough. I have no idea how many cookies you will get out of this recipe - it depends on the size and shape of the cookies you roll and cut out. The dough freezes well, so you could make a batch of this to have on hand for upcoming holiday events. Just divide it up and freeze it.

Butter Cookies

1 pound butter (4 sticks, unsalted butter, at room temperature)
1 pound sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 pound, 8 oz. all purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt



With a kitchen scale, weigh out the dry ingredients. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.


In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar at low speed for 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times during this process. Beat in two eggs and the vanilla.
Sift in the dry ingredients, one cup at a time until combined. Be careful, do not overmix the dough.
At this point, you can immediately roll the dough out and bake it. I prefer to shape the dough into a ball and refrigerate until chilled.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, roll the dough out onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Roll the dough about 1/8" thick. I like to roll out a small amount of dough and cut out 4 -5 cookies at a time. Bake at 350 for approximately 10- 12 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are light brown. Cool completely and frost as desired. I usually use Martha Stewart's royal icing recipe or a milk fondant icing to dip the cookies in.
The dough freezes well and will keep in the freezer for up to 8 weeks.

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Ginger Cookies

I have had cookies on my mind all day. I started thinking about what kind of cookie I was gonna make at 10:30 this morning. I was leaning towards chocolate chip but I'm making a Kentucky Derby pie tomorrow for a pie off, and I'll get my chocolate fix then. I decided to be reasonable and make recipe from Eating Well. I first made these cookies when I was big into Weight Watchers last year, no pun intended. These cookies don't taste like a healthy cookie, but since you are not using butter, they are relatively low in fat and calories.

These are excellent with a cup of tea or still warm with a glass of milk. The crystallized ginger gives the cookies a nice little spicy bite. The recipe makes 2 dozen small cookies. I made my cookies a bit larger and got 14 good sized cookies out of the recipe.

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Ginger Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large egg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oats, quick-cooking or old-fashioned (not instant)
2 ounces white chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli white chocolate chips)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup crystallized ginger

Preheat to 375°F.
Whisk flour, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ground ginger in a small bowl.

Whisk egg, brown sugar, oil and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; stir to combine.

Add oats, white chocolate, cranberries and crystallized ginger; stir just to combine.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto 2 ungreased baking sheets, 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies until puffed and barely golden around the edges, about 11 - 12 minutes. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.