Recipes: Civil War Cookies

Author’s Note: This recipe was first written as an “office joke” for one of our holiday cookie swaps.  For the blog, I have posted this in its original version and without any revisions or modifications.  Let me just apologize in advance; I was young… I had too much free time… And apparently a less evolved sense of humor.  Try to pick through the “Alton-Brownesque” references.  I promise you (and your fellow office workers) will love these cookies.

Civil War Cookies

Civil War Cookies

BY: Samuel Parks (December 2009)

This variation on the perennial classic of the American baking canon, combines the tart flavors of  New England cranberries, the smoky, full bodied bouquet of the South’s favorite whiskey, and the inherent  richness of white chocolate chips.  

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)

1 teaspoon NaCl (salt)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure extract from the vanilla planifolia pod (vanilla)

2 tablespoons ice-cold, Jack Daniels ethanol beverage (whiskey)

2 hard-shelled, ovum cells from a Gallus domesticus (eggs)

1 ½ cups white chocolate chips

1 cup dried and sweetened fruit from the Vaccinium Oxycoccos plant (cranberries)

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons turbinado or demura sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1.      Preheat the convective baking unit to 462.65 kelvin (350˚ Fahrenheit or 190.5˚ Centigrade)

2.      Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

3.      Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and Jack Daniels in large mixer bowl until creamy.

4.      Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5.      Divide dry ingredients into thirds, and mix thirds into the batter one at a time. Make sure not to over mix the batter, as this will produce excess glutens making your cookies tough. 

6.      Stir in white chocolate chips and cranberries.

7.      Chill overnight in the refrigerator (this helps to mellow the flavors of the mixture and produce a rounder, more full-bodied taste. 

8.      Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

9.      Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Yields:  Approximately 3-4 dozen cookies