Buttermilk Cookies
from https://www.thebakedept.com/
"These soft, delicately vanilla cookies with a whiff of buttermilk were quite different from anything else I baked last holiday season as they were cakey. Not my typical M.O. though I don’t purposefully avoid cakey either. . . Weirdly, as I was very much not expecting this, these Vanilla Buttermilk Cookies from Jen’s Favorite Cookies turned out to be my favorite newbie of the bunch. I could not stop eating them. I could not stop thinking about them all day, every day."
- from https://www.thebakedept.com/
History: Versions of the buttermilk cookie been around since the 1700’s and are said to have originated in Pennsylvania. Several sites on the Internet have old recipes that their mothers' used. One of them used lard instead of butter!
Variations: One other recipe added the zest of a lemon, no juice (you could use the juice to make a glaze). Another went with orange zest. I imagine there are a lot of possible variations - add nuts, raisins, etc.
These cookies aren’t overly sweet, so many recipes add a sweet buttercream on top, as does this recipe. One recipe uses a Cream Cheese Frosting. Another option is to use a Glaze - see recipe below. Perhaps a sprinkle of sugar would be enough, as in my recipe for Soft Sour Cream Cookies. If making the buttercream, be sure to use buttermilk as opposed regular milk.You could top them with toasted, chopped nuts as I saw in one recipe.
Cookies
3/4 cup (198 g, 12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (297 g) granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons (10 g) vanilla
2/3 cup (158 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon (3 g) fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
Icing
3 tablespoons (44 ml) buttermilk
1 1/2 cups (151 g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla
Glaze recipe from another web site, which I might like better than an icing:
1 1/2 cups (171 g) powdered sugar
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
Add the softened butter and sugar to the bowl of a mixer and cream until fluffy, about 2-4 minutes.
While the butter and sugar are creaming, in a small bowl add the dry ingredients and fluff mix with a fork.
Add the eggs and the vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar, mixing on low until combined. Next add the buttermilk and mix on low to incorporate.
Lastly, add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and blend until just combined, turn the mixer off and stir by hand with a large spatula a couple times to make sure everything has come together.
With a soup spoon, drop mounds of dough (a generous tablespoon and a half or so) onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes, until very barely golden [a fingerprint should stay slightly indented]. Remove the cookies to a rack to cool.
While the cookies are cooling, combine the icing ingredients in a small bowl until it’s lump-free and smooth. Top the cooled cookies with a spoonful, spreading the icing with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
Let the icing set up and serve. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: 36 cookies
Mom's Buttermilk Cookies
from https://www.tasteofhome.com/
Picture from Delectable Desserts
This recipe is from Taste of Home, but it can be found all over the Internet, although recipes will slightly vary. I happened across a picture of a recipe called Mom's Buttermilk Cookies from a book called Delectable Desserts. I'm not sure who the author is as there are several books with this name, but it looks like this recipe came from the there. The ingredient list matches and is in the same order, and the instructions match quite closely. Plus, these are the only two versions I came across that sprinkles toasted walnuts on top - the one at Taste of Home and the one from the cookbook. In the picture from the book, the cookies look quite puffy, which is what I would want.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
frosting:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, optional
Preheat oven to 375°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake until edges are lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. [Cookies should be very lightly brown on the edges, and a fingerprint remains slightly indented.] Remove to wire racks to cool.
For frosting, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over cookies; if desired, sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Yield: about 3 dozen
