1840 Farm Butter Cookies
By: 1840 Farm
Published: Thursday, May 5, 2011 - 10:50am

Ingredients




1 cup (2 sticks) butter
96 grams (½ cup) sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
210 grams (1 ¾ cup) King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1 Combine butter, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and process using on and off turns until the mixture forms large crumbs.  Do not overmix as this will cause the gluten to develop and prevent the final cookie from having a delicate texture. 2 Empty dough onto a counter lined with food wrap, waxed paper, or parchment.  Bring dough together with your hands and roll to an even 1/4″ thickness.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes. 3 Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have frozen the dough, remove it from the freezer and allow it to warm up for at least ten minutes before continuing.  Cut dough into desired shape and place cookies on lined baking sheets.  Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheets for five minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

About


Here at 1840 Farm, these cookies are a staple.  They are incredibly flavorful and a great recipe to showcase just how delicious homemade vanilla extract can be.  As they bake, their aroma perfumes the air to the point of making it nearly impossible to wait for them to cool before trying one fresh out of the oven.
While I don’t normally cut them out with a cookie cutter, you certainly could.  For me, these cookies are all about the taste and my family is happy to eat them in hand cut squares which saves me time and keeps the dough from becoming tough from successive rollings.  Because these cookies are basically a sable dough, they store incredibly well.  They stay crispy for several days at room temperature and the vanilla flavor improves as they age.