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12/12/2008

Cookie Swap: Vanilla Dream

Staying on the nuts bandwagon for one more day, these Vanilla Dream cookies from Bakers Banter caught my attention because of the chocolate and nut topping! YUM!



What you need:

2 to 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baker's ammonia or 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
coarse or granulated sugar for topping, optional
1 cup diced pecans or walnuts, crushed
1 cup chocolate chips
1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil


What you do:

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

Combine the vanilla, baker's ammonia, and salt in a very small bowl. Stir to dissolve the ammonia; the salt won't fully dissolve. Combine the vanilla mixture with the butter and sugar, and beat till smooth.

Mix in the flour; the mixture will seem quite dry at first.

Continue beating until the dough comes together.

Break off pieces of dough about the size of a shelled chestnut (about 3/4 ounce). Roll the pieces into balls. Space them no the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them.

For somewhat sweeter cookies with the added crunch of sugar topping, roll them in coarse or granulated sugar before placing them on the baking sheets. (I vote skip this step, but it is up to you!!)

Use the bottom of a glass, dipped in sugar if necessary to prevent sticking, to flatten the balls to about 3/8" thick. If you have it, use the end of the food pusher from a food processor; many of these have a circular, ridged pattern on their end, which imprints the cookies with a nice design.

Bake the cookies until they're a very light golden brown around the edges, about 25 minutes.

Remove them from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

To dip cookies: Crush the pecans finely, either by putting them in a zip-top plastic bag and pounding, or in a food processor.

Combine the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a microwave-safe cup. Microwave till the chocolate softens, then stir till it melts completely.

Use a pastry brush to pain the bottom of each cookie with chocolate.

Dip in the crushed nuts.

Place cookies, chocolate-side up, on a piece of parchment or cookie sheet to set.

8 comments:

Kristen said...

Sounds yummy...thanks for sharing

Kristina P. said...

Once again, these sound amazing!!

Unknown said...

yum! those look delicious :) thanks for sharing! and i loved the mitten ornament

Sandy said...

Perfect timing! I'm in the middle of a cookie baking marathon:)

Anonymous said...

They look very yummy! Thanks for sharing.

Hccm said...

do you have a recipe book?

Lorie said...

Stesha, I don't believe in recipe books. The only ones I own are the old school Better Homes and Garden cook book and one of family recipes.

There is just so much good stuff on the internet I save my money for other things!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this, they look really tasty!