A couple of weeks ago, I shared the fact that there's a national day to celebrate just about everything. The great news is that today's celebration is all about the beloved cookie. That's right, my Yummilicious friend…. Today is national cookie day!
Perfectly fitting, I might add, because with Christmas and other holidays quickly approaching, I've been doing quite a bit of cookie baking over the past few days. Being the baker that I am, I have plenty of wonderful cookie recipes in my arsenal, but I wanted to step outside of the box a bit and create something new this year. There have been some fabulous grocery deals on baking supplies, so my fridge and freezer were stocked with plenty of the essential eggs and butter, and I had a pantry full of flour and sugar too, so I was good to go. I just needed to find "THE" recipe.
As I looked through my database of favorite foodie sites, I came across Jessica's recipe for butterball cookies. Her recipe looked wonderful… all of that lovely butter would surely lead to a melt-in-my-mouth moment, but I was craving something chocolate, too. So I put my hand under my chin and went into a "Pooh Thinking" moment…
Jessica's recipe called for stuffing the cookies with pecans or maraschino cherries prior to baking, so I decided to substitute those items with chocolate kiss candies…and that's how Butterball Kisses were born!
The flavor combination was perfect, but I will say that I felt the dough was a bit dry and difficult to work with. Some of that can be attributed to the fact that there are no eggs in the recipe, and I think when I make these again (and I definitely will!), I'll use 1/4 cup less flour.
The final twist I made to the recipe was to roll the dough in granulated sugar prior to baking. I love the taste of cookies that have been rolled in powdered sugar, but I think the use of colored sugar brought a nice holiday touch to these.
No matter how you make them, your waist line taste buds will thank you!
Adapted from How Sweet It Is
WHAT YOU\'LL NEED
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 8 oz.) butter
- 1/2 cup (3.7 oz.) white granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups (11 oz.) flour
- 24 chocolate candies, unwrapped
- 1/4 cup granulated white or colored sugar, for rolling
HOW TO MAKE IT
Heat oven to 350 degrees F
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone pastry mat.
In a large bowl, using a hand-held or stand mixer, cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add vanilla, then add flour and salt, mixing just until combined.
Roll dough into one-inch balls, then flatten and place a chocolate candy into the center. Roll the dough up and around the chocolate, forming as much of an even ball as possible. Roll each one in the colored sugar and place onto the cookie sheet at least one inch apart.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly browned. Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Bachelor Kitchen
Hi, Does the ingredient list above represent your modification (reduce flour by 1/4 cup)?
Thanks for the great question, Jo-Anne! The recipe is written as I made it, so I suggest using 2 cups of flour instead of 2 1/4 cups.