Yesterday, I received a much anticipated shipment of hardcovers and promptly got to work signing, packing, and shipping them out. I’m very much hoping that today the reprints of my damaged paperbacks arrive, so that I can finish my Kickstarter fulfillment. It feels really good to tie off loose ends in a pretty sea green bow. Even making incremental progress towards the finish line feels good. So to celebrate all the hardcovers that were shipped off last night (in pink bubble mailers), I made cookies. Specifically sour cream cookies. And they were good–pillowy, vanilla, home-baked deliciousness.
But the Trents have been watching the latest season(series) of The Great British Bakeoff (Baking Show). Our expectations for baked goods have become quite elevated as a result. We wanted more. So I tossed out an idea. “What if I added the apricot stilton to the dough?”
White stilton with apricots is one of my favorite cheeses. It’s like a little nibble of cheesecake. Mr. Trent loves cheese and one of our favorite local haunts is The Cheese Importers in Longmont, CO. Thanks to him, I am aware of all kinds of delicious dessert cheeses. There’s this lemon wensleydale that he introduced me to that is unbelievable.
Back to the story. These were the cookies in question. Good, but they could be great.
My daughter was home and told me she supported this experiment. So I chopped up the stilton and added it to the dough. The result was a delicious cookie. The apricot and bit of savor that the stilton brings to the dough is a lot of fun. HOWEVER, the experimentation is not over. I think that this particular dough would benefit from a hit of white chocolate and chopped nut (macadamia, maybe?…that’s a classic. Or cashews?).
How cute is the dough with the addition of the apricot stilton? It’s looking much more the thing, but I still want to try making these cookies with white chocolate and nuts.
Below is the recipe. I think the sour cream dough is a good base for experimentation. This recipe certainly makes enough dough to try a few different mix-ins.
Sour Cream Cookies (with Apricot Stilton)
Wet Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
Dry Ingredients
4 and 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional Mix-ins
1 to 2 cups white stilton with apricots, chopped into chocolate chip size pieces
1 to 2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Now add the dry ingredients, alternating with the sour cream until the dough is all mixed. Dough will be soft and sticky and this is okay. Before you fold in any of the optional mix-ins, I recommend dropping a few cookies (rounded tablespoonfuls) onto a sheet, so you know the base you’re dealing with. But you do you. Once your dough has all the mix-ins you want, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes.
What sorts of experiments have led to success in your life?
P.S. Tomorrow is launch day for Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay. I’ve got to sit down and make a list of everything that needs to happen between now and midnight–you’d think writing the book would be the hard part, but nope, it’s just the beginning.