Vanilla Cookies
I used to visit my aunt often when I was in school. And the one thing that has stayed with me over the years is the smell of rich vanilla in her house. She baked these cute little vanilla cookies and her whole house would smell like it. It was fascinating to see her whip up a quick delicious batch in her simple kitchen with no fancy gadgets. So here goes, the secret family recipe that she passed on to me. I’ve made two versions here – chocolate chip and strawberry. Go ahead and try other variations!
The cool thing about this recipe is that it contains no eggs and the cookies are made with whole wheat flour. Skeptical? Try them out and see for yourself how delicious they are. Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity!
Ingredients
Whole wheat flour – 250 gms
Sugar – 160 gms
Unsalted butter (at room temperature) – 200 gms
Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon
Bicarbonate of soda – 1/2 teaspoon
Chocolate chips – 75 gms
Sugar for sprinkling on top – 2 tablespoons
Fresh strawberry finely chopped – 75 gms
Strawberry jam – 2 tablespoons
Yield
18 to 20 medium sized vanilla cookies
Prep time
20 mins
Cook time
~15 mins for each batch,
depending on oven capacity
Method
1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes.
2) Line a flat baking tray with parchment paper.
3) In a wide bowl take the butter, sugar and vanilla essence. Mix nicely until the sugar melts and blends well with the butter. It should be soft, airy and fluffy.
4) Sieve the wheat flour and bicarbonate of soda thoroughly, atleast twice.
5) Fold the wheat flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and mix light handedly. Do not beat at this stage or the cookies will become hard.
6) Divide the vanilla cookie dough into 2 equal parts. Add the chocolate chips to one part and the finely chopped strawberry pieces to the other part.
7) Wrap the part which has the strawberry pieces in cling film and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
8) Meanwhile, shape the chocolate chip cookies according to your wish. I’ve made hearts as you can see in my picture. Sprinkle some sugar on top, place them on the baking tray (with parchment paper), giving enough space between each cookie. Bake at 170 degree celsius for 13 to 14 minutes. After baking for 10 minutes, rotate the tray once for even baking. Then continue for the next 3 or 4 minutes or until the base of the cookie becomes golden.
9) Remove from the oven and gently place the cookies on a wire rack for it to cool down completely. Store in airtight jars.
10) Similarly, remove the strawberry cookie dough from the refrigerator, shape them as you wish and bake like before. Once cooled completely, just before serving, drizzle some strawberry jam on top of the cookie for added flavour.
Notes
- In this recipe I have used whole wheat flour. But you can substitute this for either all purpose flour or mixing both wheat and all purpose flour in equal quantity. The texture of the cookies vary a bit in each of these variations. But all of them taste perfect. So choose the flour according to your preference.
- Here I’ve used light brown sugar. Again, according to your choice you can use either white, brown, soft brown or dark brown sugar. I always prefer brown sugar to white because it tastes better.
- Also, these vanilla cookies can be made using butter and vegetable oil in equal quantity. But I personally prefer to use butter only because it gives a rich flavour.
- I have given just two basic versions of the cookie. There are a lot more variants with which we can play around to create more exotic varieties. Just keep experimenting. Try – orange zest, nuts, oats and more!
2 Comments
MotherOfNOMS
Thank you Shyamala. Do try these goodies and let me know!!
Shyamala Venkatesh
Def not going to wait till Valentine’s Day to try this Sudha! Probably this weekend! Awesome!!