Vanilla Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen 3" cookies
Make some dough when you have a spare twenty minutes, store it in the freezer, and then have fresh-baked vanilla cookies whenever you want! These are a definitive sugar cookie, richly scented with vanilla through the use of vanilla seeds, vanilla sugar, and vanilla extract. Vanilla sugar is easy to make by simply splitting open a vanilla bean and storing it in your sugar canister indefinitely--but of course regular sugar also works fine.
1 stick (4 ozs.) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (4 1/2 ozs.) vanilla sugar, plus extra for rolling
3 vanilla beans
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (5 ozs.) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
-- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and 2/3 cup vanilla sugar until light and fluffy. Slice the vanilla beans in half lengthwise and using the tip of a spoon, scrape out the tiny, oily seeds from each bean. Add the seeds to the sugar mixture and set the vanilla beans themselves aside for another use.
-- Add the egg and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture as well and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again briefly.
-- Stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat this into the sugar mixture until just combined. Dough will be very soft and sticky.
-- Set out onto the counter a piece of piece of waxed paper about 16" long. Place blobs of the cookie dough in the middle of this sheet running lengthwise, until you have a sort of log of dough about 12" long. Gently wrap the waxed paper around the dough and twist the ends before storing it in the freezer for at least 1 hour and up to 6 weeks.
-- When you're ready to bake, set the oven racks at the upper middle and bottom positions. Preheat the oven to 375°. Cover your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
-- Put the extra vanilla sugar in a small bowl. Cut the dough in 1/2" crosswise slices and roll each slice in the sugar (don't skip this step, as it really makes a difference in the cookies' texture). Arrange the slices on the cookie sheets, doing no more than 8 or 9 slices per cookie sheet.
-- Bake at 375° for 4 to 6 minutes, then reverse the cookie sheets, putting the one from the upper middle rack on the bottom rack and vice versa. Bake another 4 to 6 minutes. Cookies are done when they have puffed and spread and are pale golden. Do not overbake, as cookies will continue to cook on the cookie sheets out of the oven.
-- Remove from heat and allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets, then remove from cookie sheets to cool fully on wire racks.
Storage
These keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container, but the texture is best the same day they're made.
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