I’m a planner. I thrive on the consistent and the
expected. I eat my meals at roughly the same time every day, maintain a fairly
regular “bedtime,” and keep a normal exercise schedule. My guess is that this is just an expression
of my type A personality. Basically (extrapolated a little from my chemistry
class), the world naturally tends toward entropy, or chaos. If I maintain a consistent schedule, then I
avoid most of the effects of chaos’ influence and keep my perfect, little, type
A world (or, at least, I like to believe so).
Unfortunately,
there is that one thing that I just can’t avoid. I think its called human
nature or something like that. Even when I think I know exactly what I should
do, I change my mind and want to do something completely different… something
new, something reminiscent or something just plain exciting. So, despite my
propensity for planning, I sometimes have random urges to do certain things
(some normal and some unusual). Some of my most recent urges include:
1.
Dip dying my hair purple (I got the dye, but I
still haven’t done it yet)
2.
Going to the drive-in
3.
Seeing the Dark Knight Rises at midnight
4.
Starting a blog? (Ok, that wasn’t THAT recent)
5.
Having a tie dying party
6.
Playing paintball (unfortunately, I haven’t
gotten ahold of a paintball gun)
7.
Taking a day trip to Philly
8.
Going to see a musical
Despite this random list of
things, my most common “urges” are the ones that require a kitchen, some
delicious ingredients, and some good old oven heat. I’ll just be sitting at a
table, reading a book or watching TV and my Martha Stewart senses will start
tingling. Thoughts of cookies, cakes and pies will start running through my
head, and I will make my way to the fridge to start scoping out ingredients.
Then I let the internet, the family recipe book and my imagination guide me to
the ultimate reward for following my intuition- some delicious food!
So, recently, as I was sitting
at the table drinking my tea and reading the newspaper (Do the comics count?),
I had the urge to bake something. To add to the strength of my impulse, I was
going to be hanging out with a group of friends that night so it just made
sense to bring them a tasty treat. I
started perusing the family recipes and came across a forgotten sugar cookie
recipe. The last time I had these cookies was when I was in eighth grade (that
was in 2007…). My mom got the recipe from a friend of my sister’s grandmother
and decided to bake them for my basketball team. They were a hit! She ended up
making them for every single home basketball game. All of the players would
anticipate the sight of the box of gooey, cakey sugar cookies, covered in
crunchy sprinkles, after a hard fought game.
My mom didn’t mind such a responsibility, though, because the cookies
were quick to whip together and produced a bounty of oversized cookies.
When I came across the recipe,
I knew I had to make them. What’s more fun to bake for friends than a batch of
massive cookies topped with whimsical rainbow sprinkles? Unfortunately, we were
out of sour cream and cream of tartar. So, what did I do? Try another recipe?
Wait until later to bake? Sit and sulk because I didn’t have the ingredients?
NO. I grabbed my wallet and headed to the grocery store just so I could get
those two simple ingredients to make my cookies! (Not a very planner-like
decision)
Oh boy! It was worth it! Even
with tablespoon size globs of batter, the cookies came out huge. They were
super soft, just as I remembered them, with a sweet, cakey inside and a moist,
lightly browned outside. Some came out a little funny looking because I forgot
how much they spread, so I decided to improve the looks of those particular
cookies with a simple vanilla glaze, topped with MORE sprinkles. I can’t
believe I lived without these cookies for 5 whole years of my life!
Grandma’s Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
·
1 cup margarine (benecol)
·
2 cups sugar
·
3 eggs
·
4 cups flour
·
1 cup sour cream
·
2 tsp baking soda
·
1 tsp cream of tartar
·
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1.
Preheat oven to 375° F.
2.
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, beat until
creamy.
3.
Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar. Add
flour mixture to butter cream, little by little.
4.
Add sour cream and vanilla. Blend well.
5.
Use a small or medium cookie scoop and drop on a
greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Allow the cookies plenty of room to
spread.
6.
Sprinkle with colored sprinkles, cinnamon sugar
or leave plain. Bake for 8-10 minutes (until edges are lightly browned).
7.
Remove from sheet and allow to cool. If you
decide to glaze the cookies, wait until they cool.
Simple Vanilla Glaze
Ingredients
·
2 cups powdered sugar
·
2 tbs milk
·
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2.
Whisk until a thick, even glaze comes together.
3.
Adjust consistency by adding more sugar or milk.
4.
Drizzle or spread on cooled cookies.
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