Cookie phobia

July 5th, 2009 by admin Leave a reply »

Elyse suggested making star cookies with Carter for the Fourth of July. We just did it a day late and combined it with a photo shoot for Baking with Carter. Guess which Carter liked better?

I took advantage of having Cousin Elyse here to get a blog photo, which isn’t an easy feat with a four-year-old. But she did it.

I confess, for all the baking I do, it’s highly unusual for me to make cookies. The reluctance dates back decades to less-than-successful tries as a child. (Yes, my mom let us loose in the kitchen at a young age.) There were the ginger snaps ran, the Tollhouse attempts burned, and the stiff dough was just too hard to mix by hand. Besides, ginger snaps were my great Aunt Frances’s specialty, and chocolate-chip cookies were my sister Margaret’s.

Fast forward to today. I realize how silly my fear of cookies has been—now that I have a KitchenAid stand mixer (wedding present from some dear siblings). It does all the hard work! Combine it with an Alton Brown recipe, a star cookie cutter from the PlayDoh set, and red sprinkles. We were so set.

Sugar Cookies
Recipe by Alton Brown
Show: Good EatsEpisode: The Cookie Clause

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

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