on the side, but maybe not
In baking, I am totally amazed by the way in which one ingredient, even a small amount of it, can affect the outcome of a recipe.
In this cookie dough, that ingredient is apple cider vinegar. Along with salt, the vinegar accentuates the butter-sugar flavor as the cookie dough mounds caramelize lightly during baking: in this case, the quiet acidity (5 percent) of apple cider vinegar, rather than the more forward-tasting malt or red wine type, fits in nicely with the not-at-all-shy amount of unsalted butter and vanilla extract. Looking back over my research into butter cookies, I can reference that my reason for including the vinegar in the recipe was to tenderize the dough, and give it a crumbly, nearly dissolving texture as you bite into a baked cookie. Old-time recipes of my grandmother’s and mother’s also included vinegar or lemon juice in butter cake and pound cake batters, as well as some of the plainer cookie doughs. Notice, too, that whole eggs or egg yolks are absent from the ingredient list—this is a pure, undiluted pile of butter cookies. In the main, the formula is built on a variation of the butter and sugar cookies—not fancied up with a pastry bag and tip, more everyday, less studied, not at all disciplined. The recipe is also a different take on the sandy butter dough in twice as good cookies, #2 sugar and my mother’s drop sugar cookie dough (see notes). The cookie’s texture is fragile and lightly crunchy at the same time.
Although others have repeatedly told me that these are great cookies for serving with mousse, ice cream, vanilla or chocolate pudding, fruit salad, and other sweet endings to a meal, I am set on serving them simply with coffee—they are that good. These may be the ultimate just-for-nibbling, cookie-tin cookies—irresistible with their full throttle of butter. (One suggestion: better find a good hiding place for them.)
the perfect “side-dish” cookie
serving: about 4 dozen cookies
ahead: 1 week
soft butter dough
21/4 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
11/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
11/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
11/4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
about 1/3 cup granulated sugar, spread out on a small flat saucer, for coating the bottom of a juice glass
sprinklings of sea salt (see notes)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line several heavy cookie sheets or rimmed sheet pans with lengths of ovenproof parchment paper.
For the dough, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
Cream the butter in the large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on low speed for 3 minutes, or until velvety. Add the 11⁄3 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar in 2 additions, beating for 1 minute after each portion is added. Blend in the vanilla extract and vinegar. On low speed, blend in the sifted ingredients in 2 additions, beating just until the flour particles are absorbed. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to keep the dough even-textured.
Place rounded 1-tablespoon-size mounds of dough onto the prepared baking pans, spacing the mounds about 3 inches apart. Smooth the edges of the mounds slightly, rather than leaving them too rough. Lightly grease the bottom of a smooth-surfaced juice glass with a little of the cookie dough, leaving just a residue, then dip the glass in the 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar. Lightly flatten each mound of dough with the bottom of the dipped glass; be sure to coat the bottom of the glass lightly by dipping it in the sugar before flattening each cookie. The flattened dough mound should measure about 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle a teeny bit of sea salt in the center of each cookie.
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 15 to 17 minutes, or until set and golden. Let the cookies stand on the baking pans for 2 minutes, then transfer them to cooling racks, using a wide offset metal spatula. Cool completely.Store in an airtight tin.
• in hot or humid weather, or in a warm kitchen, refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes before spooning it into mounds
• to build the salty-sweet flavor, the top of each unbaked flattened cookie is flecked with a grain or two of sea salt; for this, I use either Fleur de Sel de Guérande, translated as “flower of salt” (referring to its fresh, infant stage), harvested in the Guérande area of France (Brittany), or Himalania (this pink salt from the Himalayas has a marvelous, gently mineral quality); according to the label, Himalania, available in 8.8-ounce containers, is imported from France by Brandstorm, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (www.himalania.com)
• historical recipe data: my mom’s drop sugar cookie recipe used the same quantity of flour, baking soda alone, a lesser amount of granulated sugar and vanilla extract, and, of course, sprinkles of sea salt did not appear as a topping
the perfect “side-dish” cookie