But coming home late on Friday night, or rather, very early on a Saturday morning in the cold, cold, wind had sparked some kind of motivation in me which was drawn mainly from cravings. Sweet carbs.
Crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside Held in the palm, warmth spread through the realm Of buttery goodness it tantalizes, of tart sweetness it dances..
In fact, Missy is now nibbling away while typing idly with one hand, and the other hand under the chin trying to catch the crumbs that dangle precariously on her lips.
Onto the cookies.. one word: Love! They were so very yummy and bursting with comfort. It was a first for this recipe, and about 14 years since I last baked cookies, I think.
A couple of foreword: This was a halved version of an original recipe, thanks to Molly from Orangette, and was supposed to yield 40 small cookies. Either my cookie-definition of small is dangerously on the wrong side, or I'm just plain lazy, but one very important note is to drop the cookies in very small spoonfuls, like you would feed a toddler. AND leave at least an inch between each ball (as they tend to thin and spread as they bake). This, I learnt the hard way *ouch..* But nothing a second attempt won't fix, dearies!
Below is the adaptation of Molly's Buttermilk Cookies with Lemon Zest. They look nothing like mine, which translates to them being super cute and yummy-looking. Mine is more of a deranged cousin who, thank-God-for-genes, still has the great taste.
Mandarin Splash Buttermilk Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 and a half cups unbleached all-purpose flour*
- 1 tsp mandarin zest, grated and/or peel, finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 6 tbsp (approx 85g) butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup raw sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
- 2 tbsp well-shaken buttermilk
- 2 drops vanilla extract
- sifted confectioners sugar, adjust to taste and thickness
*Being the health-conscious me as usual, I took a risk and substituted half a cup of flour with slightly more than half a cup of wheatgerm and ground linseed. I just needed to adjust the amount of buttermilk when mixing the dough. Turned out great ;)
How to
- Line baking sheets with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180deg.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, zest/peel and baking powder.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter briefly with a handheld mixer. Add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. Add egg, and beat briefly to mix. Add vanilla, beat briefly again.
- Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in alternating batches, and beat at low speed, beginning and ending with flour. Finished dough should be a pale yellow shade, not too runny but enough consistency to drop by spoonfuls.
- I suggest using two teaspoons to shape and drop balls of dough onto baking sheets, leaving at least an inch in between.
- Bake, one batch of cookies at a time, until edges are golden, about 15 minutes. Wait a minute for cookies to cool once out of the oven, then transfer to cooling rack; so cookies won't have a soggy base.
Optional:
- Whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla.
- Slowly sift in confectioners sugar and adjust sweetness and thickness to your liking. The mixture should be smooth with no visible sugar lumps.
- Spoon the glaze onto warm cookies.
- Once glaze has set, feed cookies to cold, happy souls.
**I made the first batch, which flattened abysmally. Taking that down in my lesson book, I made the second batch which *blush* looks so pretty..
***I prefer them without the glaze as they tend to "soak" into the cookie. Baby Hubz, on the other hand, was loving everything sweet and sugary. He was caught stealing another cookie (or three) off the rack while dinner was just 5 minutes away. That, I absolutely noted with a proud smile across my cookie-crumbed lips..
T'was a cold, cold autumn night For all but one, or two T'was warm a'glow from inside out For comfort comes to those Who holds a buttermilk cookie..
Aye aye!
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