It was a lazy Sunday at home and we didn't set any plans for the day. Since I've got some spare time (and I've got new baking toys!) I decided to try to bake butter cookies. Been wanting to bake some after our stock of the store bought danish cookies was depleted some weeks ago. I didn't want to buy more until I get to try baking one from scratch. And anyway, I wanted to bake my first ever cookie.
I looked for an easy peasy recipe and found this. With just 5 ingredients I figured what could go wrong eh? So I used her recipe as a guideline.
Butter Cookies
adapted from Justonecookbook
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar ( I didn't have white sugar so I used what I have, the unrefined brown sugar)
6 tbsp or 3/4 of a stick of butter
1 large egg
1 tsp or 5 ml of baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)
adapted from Justonecookbook
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar ( I didn't have white sugar so I used what I have, the unrefined brown sugar)
6 tbsp or 3/4 of a stick of butter
1 large egg
1 tsp or 5 ml of baking powder
1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)
1. Creamed butter and sugar using a handheld electric mixer in a mixing bowl.
2. Added the beaten egg to the butter-sugar mixture. Again mixed until well incorporated.
3. I assumed this is the stage where I can add the vanilla extract since it's a wet ingredient. So add I did.
4. In a separate bowl, I sifted the flour and baking soda together.
5. Then I added the flour mixture in 3 batches to the butter mix. This is so the flour won't go all over the place. Mixed well until it was smooth and everything was well incorporated.
6. I put the dough in a cling wrap and chill it inside the ref for about 2 hours. Recipe said 30 mins only but we ate lunch after and had to put the Toddler to bed for a nap.
2. Added the beaten egg to the butter-sugar mixture. Again mixed until well incorporated.
3. I assumed this is the stage where I can add the vanilla extract since it's a wet ingredient. So add I did.
4. In a separate bowl, I sifted the flour and baking soda together.
5. Then I added the flour mixture in 3 batches to the butter mix. This is so the flour won't go all over the place. Mixed well until it was smooth and everything was well incorporated.
6. I put the dough in a cling wrap and chill it inside the ref for about 2 hours. Recipe said 30 mins only but we ate lunch after and had to put the Toddler to bed for a nap.
This is the part where I really got confused
7. I pre-heat my oven at 190°C. Prepared rolling pin, baking sheet, mat, parchment paper and a small amount of flour.
8. I took out my dough from the ref. Dumped the dough on a little floured parchment paper. Covered it with another paper. Tried rolling it. I lifted the parchment paper and checked. The dough clung to the paper! It's so sticky! What to do?!...
9. I scraped the dough from the paper. Grabbed a spoon and just made drop cookies.
10. Baked the first batch for 15 mins. The second batch for 20 mins since I wanted to brown it a little more.
7. I pre-heat my oven at 190°C. Prepared rolling pin, baking sheet, mat, parchment paper and a small amount of flour.
8. I took out my dough from the ref. Dumped the dough on a little floured parchment paper. Covered it with another paper. Tried rolling it. I lifted the parchment paper and checked. The dough clung to the paper! It's so sticky! What to do?!...
9. I scraped the dough from the paper. Grabbed a spoon and just made drop cookies.
10. Baked the first batch for 15 mins. The second batch for 20 mins since I wanted to brown it a little more.
So how did it go? The first batch was a little soft still on the inside. There was no hint of the vanilla and it wasn't too sweet. In fact a little bland. The second batch got toasted. Really toasted. It was still edible but there was that little burnt after taste.
What happened and why didn't it look like a real butter cookie? I guess it's because I used unrefined brown sugar. I read in King Arthur's recipe they used confectionery sugar. I'll try that next time to up the sweetness level. I used a weak tasting vanilla essence flavouring. Also, I didn't use enough flour on the parchment paper to prevent the dough from sticking. Or perhaps recipe needed more flour. Lastly, second batch got burned because I put cookie dough on a hot baking sheet AND left the cookies in the oven after it was done.
Oh well, I'll stock on store bought butter cookies for the mean time and try again once I have recovered from this cookie disaster.
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