Time for a little sour cream softie

  • JudyraeKruse / Herald Columnist
  • Sunday, January 29, 2006 9:00pm
  • Life

If Shara Hall of Mountlake Terrace hasn’t found a sugar cookie to match her grandmother’s version yet, maybe today will be the day. Yes!

So here we go again, starting with this recipe sent along by longtime Forum helper-outer Suzanne Ramsey over there in Greenbank.

“My daughter makes these for me,” she says. “She doubles the recipe and mixes the dough by hand, and I keep them in the freezer for snacking. These are soft and puffy like little cakes.”

And Arlington cook Marie Freeman shares her favorite recipe, telling us, “My family enjoys these very much.”

Sour cream softies

3cups flour

1teaspoon salt

1/2teaspoon baking powder

1/2teaspoon baking soda

1/2cup margarine, softened

1 1/2cups sugar

2eggs

1teaspoon vanilla

1cup sour cream

Coarse sugar

Sift together and set aside the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In mixing bowl, cream together margarine and sugar; add eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture together with sour cream and mix well. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. Cookies will be soft and puffy like little cakes.

Recipe can be doubled successfully.

Sour cream sugar cookies

2cups sugar

1/2cup butter-flavored shortening

1/2cup margarine or butter, softened

2teaspoons vanilla

2eggs

51/2cups flour

1cup sour cream

1teaspoon baking soda

1teaspoon baking powder

1teaspoon salt

In mixing bowl, mix together sugar, shortening, margarine or butter, vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Stir in flour, sour cream, baking soda, baking powder and salt until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Roll out dough, cut in desired shapes, and bake at 425 degrees 6 to 8 minutes.

Makes 4 to 6 dozen cookies, depending on size of cutters.

That’s it for the cookie portion of the program today. Well, except for this incredible, marvelous, “it’s a small world” letter that comes to us from “OZ.”

Marie Boatswain, self-called “underdog from OZ” writes, “Just a line from down under in South Wentworthville, Sydney, Australia, regarding my cousin Annette Van Belle’s search for her mother’s and my late Aunty Eileen’s recipe, republished Aug. 17, 2005, for her Amish sugar cookies.

“My name is Marie Boatswain, nee Hall, and my aunty was Eileen Plachecki, nee Hall, sister of my father John Hall. My daughter Narelle Taylor was just dabbling on the net the other day and came across the article in your newspaper, The Herald, regarding the search for one of Aunty’s recipes.

“My husband and I visited my late Aunt Eileen and Uncle Ed at their home in Lake Stevens, Seattle, Washington State, in March of 1996.

“It will be 10 years, come March, since we were there, and I will be celebrating that 10-year anniversary with a batch of her homemade Amish sugar cookies, and thanking you and your reader Jean Kroeze of Arlington for finding that recipe for us.”

Saying goodbye, now, Marie adds, in all capital letters, no kidding, “It’s a small world after all,” and says she is thinking of us, always.

The next Forum will appear in Wednesday’s Food section.

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