Something Classic, Easy, Yummy, and Cute

In fifth grade, my class baked cookies to give to people at a nearby nursing home. It was a great day; a bunch of moms volunteered to come in and help us bake cookies during a school day, and of course my mom was one of those wonderful ladies. There were a lot of chocolate chip cookies being clumsily churned out by children that day, but not my group. My mom decided to bring in the big guns, literally. She had us make her mom’s butter cookie recipe and we used what I have affectionately named the “cookie gun.”

Okay, so it’s actually a cookie press, but the point is that it shoots out perfect cookies with the pull of a trigger. A cookie gun! It’s brilliant. But not only is the cookie gun brilliant, but the recipe. Butter cookies are pretty standard fare, and usually not that extraordinary. But when you crank out several dozen of the bite-sized-melt-in-your-mouth-cookies, you’ll feel the magic. This recipe references my first rule of thumb: few and simple ingredients. It’s actually my Nana’s recipe, and has thankfully been passed down to me (and the paper may or may not smell like vanilla). But I wanted to officially immortalize it and share it so that you guys can enjoy these cookies that are beyond delicious and easy to make.

I will warn you though, they are deadly. I mean, you can snack on them like they’re popcorn; and let’s just say that they’re not quite as healthy a snack. Because this handwriting is a little rough and the directions aren’t really user-friendly, I have translated them for you:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of butter (softened)
• 1 cup of white/granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Steps:

1. Cream the butter until it’s nice and fluffy.
2. Add in the sugar and beat until combined.
3. Beat in the vanilla and the eggs.
4. Slowly add the flour. You may have to stop your mixer and scoop the sides with a spatula.

This dough should be thick, and it actually isn’t very good tasting cookie dough. Lightly grease your cookie sheets and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Then load your cookie press according to its instructions and shoot them out onto the pan! It may take a little practice to get the motions just right, but no sweat, any cookie dough shapes that don’t come out right can just go back in the press. When you filled up the pan (you can these things won’t grow much), bake them for 8 to 10 minutes. Then you can eat as is, package them as gifts, or dip them in chocolate (I usually like to add chocolate, yum).