Cookies. They are among the first foods we eat and they fit into a special niche in our lives. Cookies are not dessert. They don’t count for that. And they are small so basically calorie free. There is a gracious, guilt free feeling about cookies.
Uh, there should be. Once upon a time, you could go to the neighborhood bakery and find fresh cookies in abundance. All you had to do is follow your nose.
Nowadays, the bakeries are one. The bakery counter at your supermarket carry only two kinds of cookies. There are the hard ones, hard as rock, colored in different pastels, but with one common factor: they remind you of cardboard.
At the other extreme, there are the gooey ones. My local supermarket, really a lovely place in Kingston, sells brownies that are 4 inches on a side. A half inch thick with another 2 inches of frosting. Complete with embedded chips and marshmallows. Lifting one to your mouth is good for your biceps. Taking a taste is a diabetic risk. Yes, I will admit: things can be too sweet, too gooey.
What I wanted the other day was a simple cookie. One where you could taste the butter. Have a soft bite into a cookie sized for humans, not super heroes. I turned, as I often do, to Cookie Time by Marilyn Miller Wasbotten.
These Seth’s Brandy Delights are soft balls of dough with a simple, clear, pure flavor. There is some brandy here, but only enough to tint the taste that you feel. It’s what cookie was meant to me, used to be, and can be with just a few minutes in the kitchen.
The original recipe below calls for walnuts, but I used slivered almonds for a slightly less nutty tone. Because they remind me of Mexican wedding cake cookies, I did roll these in powdered sugar before baking. Not too sweet!
.
Seth’s Brandy Delights
Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cp confectioner’s sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons brandy
- 2 ¼ cup flour
- ¾ cup walnuts
- Confectioner’s sugar for rolling [optional]
Preparation:
Cream the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and brandy. Blend in the flour and nuts. Shape the dout into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet
Bake at 375⁰F for 10 to 13 minutes. The cookies will flatten a bit and be about 2 inches in diameter.
Source: Cookie Time by Marily Miller Wasbotten
Photo Credits: Canon T2i, 18-55MM Macro lens, F/8, 1/50th second, ISO 3200