Often I find myself forgetting things when I bake. You try sharing a kitchen with a cat that has a bad attitude because you asked her for the 1,987th time to get down off the damn dining room table. You laugh, but it happens more often than you would think. There have been times that I have even forgotten flour and sugar in a recipe, because I have been sidetracked, caught up in my own thoughts, or suddenly attacked by a cat on a rampage. The forgetting has happened a lot lately; too many thoughts have been going on in my head. My to-deal-with-list has been growing longer as each day passes, and along with that longer list comes a great deal of absentmindedness. This time around I forgot to add vanilla to my cookie dough. Not a catastrophe in itself, but cookies always taste better with vanilla. So instead of putting vanilla extract into the cookie dough as originally planned, I swirled a touch of vanilla bean paste into the apricot preserve filling of each cookie. What at first was a head-smacking mistake became a lucky strike of genius, because these cookies turned out to be incredible. So much so, that I didn’t give any of them away as planned. B.O.B. Bob and I ate them mostly by ourselves, one at a time, day after day, as a treat after every meal. When I keep an entire batch of cookies in my house, you know they must be good, because it rarely ever happens. So if you’re looking for a new cookie recipe, I propose that you give this one a try. And if you have any ideas on how to keep a cat off of a dining room table, that don’t involve duct tape, hot glue, double-sided tape, a crowbar, or a staple gun, I’ll be right here anxiously awaiting your suggestions.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
- 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- Apricot Preserves
- Vanilla Bean Paste
- Sea Salt
Directions:
- On medium speed, cream the butter, sugar, and sea salt together for 3 minutes.
- Slowly add the flour on low speed, 1/2-cup at a time, until just combined.
- Cover and refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll 1-inch balls of dough using the palms of your hands, and then place each ball of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Use your thumb to press a well into each dough ball, and then fill each well with apricot preserves.
- Dip the end of a knife, toothpick, or chopstick into a tiny bowl filled with vanilla bean paste, and then swirl the vanilla bean paste into the apricot preserves.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Sprinkle with additional sea salt.
Suggestions:
- These cookies will spread when baking, so make sure not to overcrowd your baking sheet.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, before removing to a baking rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container, in between layers of wax paper.
- This recipe will yield approximately 2-dozen cookies.
Improvements:
- Replace the apricot preserves with any other fruit variety.
- Add 1-tablespoon of vanilla bean paste to the cookie dough.
- Play around with different types of sea salt in this recipe. I used Australian Murray River sea salt in this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
- 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- Apricot Preserves
- Vanilla Bean Paste
- Sea Salt
Directions:
- On medium speed, cream the butter, sugar, and sea salt together for 3 minutes.
- Slowly add the flour on low speed, 1/2-cup at a time, until just combined.
- Cover and refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll 1-inch balls of dough using the palms of your hands, and then place each ball of dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Use your thumb to press a well into each dough ball, and then fill each well with apricot preserves.
- Dip the end of a knife, toothpick, or chopstick into a tiny bowl filled with vanilla bean paste, and then swirl the vanilla bean paste into the apricot preserves.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Sprinkle with additional sea salt.
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