One Perfect Bite: washboard

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Washboard Cookies

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I love the fanciful names old-timers gave to the food they made. There is, of course, track bread, so named because its filling formed a spiral that the imaginative thought resembled a race track when the bread was sliced. There are also washboard cookies which have ridges like those found on the old galvanized tin washboards that were great grandma's curse. Recipes for these cookies have been around for close to a century, and while peanut butter cookies are probably the most recognized example of them, there are lots of others. The Shaker-simple cookies I'm featuring today can be counted in that number. The recipe I'm using comes from Taste of Home magazine, and those of you who like your cookies both sweet and simple, will be happy you stopped by. These cookies are very easy to make and lend themselves to preparation in the barely adequate kitchens found in most cottage or cabin summer rentals. They are also a great starter cookie for young cooks to try. Not much can go wrong with the recipe, but they do have a flaw that may disappoint some of you. Those ridges you see in the photo above are hard to come by. The cookies tend to flatten and the ridges disappear as they bake. That doesn't affect their flavor but it does make the name of the cookie misleading. Pride kept me from posting a photo of a flat washboard cookie, so, I added several more tablespoons of flour to the dough in order to guarantee I'd have ridges to show you. This makes a nice everyday cookie that I know the kids, young and old, will enjoy. Here's the recipe.

Washboard Cookies...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2) Cream butter and brown sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, water and vanilla.
3) Combine flour and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture and mix well.
4) Shape into 1-inch balls. Place on prepared baking sheets and flatten with a fork that has been dipped in water. Lightly sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to complete cooling. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen cookies.