Countdown to Cookies!

The Mother of All Butter Cookies

This recipe is from Mark Bittman and his book How To Cook Everything.  If you’ve never checked out his book, you should its AWESOME!

Yield About 4 dozen cookies

Time About 30 minutes, or more if cookies are baked in batches

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk, approximately

Method

• 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a food processor, and pulse once or twice. Add butter, and pulse 10 or 20 times, until butter and flour are well combined. Add vanilla and egg and pulse 3 or 4 times. Add about half the milk and pulse 2 or 3 times. Add the remaining milk a little at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition, until the dough holds together in a sticky mass.
• 2. Remove the dough from the machine to one or more bowls. Make cookies as described in Step 3, or make any of the variations below.
• 3. To make cookies, drop rounded teaspoons of dough (you can make the cookies larger or smaller, if you like) onto a nonstick baking sheet, a sheet lined with parchment paper or a lightly buttered sheet. If you want flat cookies, press the balls down a bit with your fingers or the back of a spatula or wooden spoon. Bake 11 minutes, or until the cookies are done as you like them. Cool on a rack, then store, if necessary, in a covered container.

Variations

• * Butterscotch cookies: Substitute brown sugar for half or more of the white sugar, or simply add 1 tablespoon of molasses along with the egg.
• * Citrus cookies: Omit the vanilla, and add 1 tablespoon of lemon or orange juice and 2 teaspoons grated lemon or orange rind along with the egg. A couple of tablespoons of poppy seeds can also be added.
• * Chocolate chip cookies: Stir in about 1 cup of chocolate chips. (The butterscotch variation is good with chocolate chips.)