One Drunk Cookie

“How well I remember my first encounter with The Devil’s Brew. I happened to stumble across a case of bourbon – and went right on stumbling for several days thereafter.”

- W.C. Fields

Whenever I have friends stay with me I generally like to ask them if they have any favorite snacks or drinks or whatnot, so I can have some of them on hand for when they get there. Most recently, when I asked a friend his favorite alcoholic beverage he replied with, “bourbon.” While in the past this answer would’ve simply led me to buy a bottle, with my new found baking obsession I not only needed to buy some Maker’s, but also made it my mission to find a recipe that utilized the drink.

Funnily enough, it wasn’t that hard. And I quickly stumbled upon a recipe on tastykitchen.com that I was able to riff a little on and can now present you with this week’s treat. However, keep in mind, these cookies are absolutely addictive. Seriously. Like, I think I may have eaten my weight in their buttery-bourbon-goodness…I also may have gotten a little tipsy while devouring the left-over glaze…but only maybe…

12-Step Bourbon Cookies!

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cookies:

•    8 ounces, weight Unsalted Butter, Softened

•    ¾ cups Granulated Sugar

•    ¼ teaspoons Salt

•    1 Tablespoon Maker’s Mark

•    1 whole Egg Yolk

•    2 cups All-purpose Flour

For the Glaze:

•    ½ pounds Powdered Sugar

•    Maker’s Mark to taste (meaning, I used 1 ½ tablespoons)

•    ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract

•    2 table spoons milk (I used whole milk, but any will do)

DIRECTIONS:

1.     Beat the butter, sugar, salt and bourbon together until smooth. Mix in the egg yolk. Add flour.

2.     Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead, adding more flour if needed, until the dough comes together. (The dough is VERY dry, since there is no liquid besides the bourbon used in the cookies. It will seem very breakable and piecey, just keep pushing it all back together as you go)

3.     Roll into a log and wrap with plastic wrap or waxed paper. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight until solid. (I refrigerated mine for about 4 hours because I wanted to make them that same day, and it turned out great. I actually rolled my dough into two separate logs, since there is a lot of dough)

4.     Preheat your oven to 325 degrees (F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the log of dough into approximately 1/8-inch slices. Place the slices at least 1 inch apart on the cookie sheet.

5.     Bake until golden around the edges, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheets.

6.     Once cookies have cooled (give it 20 to 30 minutes) you can add your glaze! My favorite way to glaze these cookies is to dunk them face down into the glaze bowl and twist, getting them really covered, and then letting the excess drop off as you lift the cookie to place it back on the baking sheet, to allow the glaze the cool.

7.     Once the cookies are glazed I like to keep them on the baking sheet and refrigerate them for around 15 minutes to get the glaze to harden a bit. Then you can remove the cookies and put them in a container, knowing they won’t stick to one another.

Bourbon Glaze: Whisk together powdered sugar, bourbon, vanilla and milk. Add more bourbon to the mixture for a thinner glaze, or keep the bourbon lighter for a thicker one. Also, I was cooking for people who LOVE their booze, so, you know, the more the merrier. Either way, DEEEEELISH!

CUT TO AFTER REHEARSAL:

So these cookies are incredible! They definitely have a kick of bourbon, but it mixes SO nicely with the sweetness of the sugar-cookie-like base. The cookies are chewy and light, and actually kind of refreshing, since they have that bourbon-bitterness to offset the sweetness of the treat.

I have to say that after being exposed to this cookie…I might need an intervention…

Til next time,

D