Here’s the big hit recipe from the new all-cookie cookbook by a Lexington author

Holiday baking season have you feeling like a reindeer in Santa’s headlights?

Two words: Butterscotch brownies.

Sophisticated and different, these brownies are rich enough to carry their own as a holiday dessert or gift. That makes them just the thing to bake for your Christmas cookies exchange office party treat.

The recipe comes from a new, all-cookie cookbook simply called “Cookies!” by Lexington author Barbara Harper Bach. It’s 47 pages of cookie recipes of all kinds: Rolled, dropped, bars, spritz, fancy, easy, no-bake and even non-dairy. And, of course, brownies of various kinds too.

Harper Bach said that she wasn’t really much into cookies until earlier this year, when she was diagnosed with a severe dairy allergy. She had to come up with something sweet that she could still eat and created the first recipe for the book, Cereal Bar Cookies, with plant-based butter. It was such a winner she kept going.

But the recipe that’s been the biggest hit at recent book signings, where she hands out free samples, has been the Butterscotch Brownies.

She tried several versions before she hit upon the right mix of sweet and salty. She knew she had a winner after she took a batch to her granddaughter’s bridal shower.

“Everyone asked for that recipe,” she said.

Also big winners: Her Pillowcase Cookies, which are not quite a shortbread, not quite a sugar cookie but something else entirely. (Harper Bach says the name comes from a story that poor sailors would carry the cookies in their pillowcases.)

For the holidays, she recommends Magic Window Cookies, with colorful candy “glass” windows made with melted Lifesavers, and Gingerbread Hands, an old-fashioned molasses cookie that kids can decorate with icing fingernails and candy rings. Both are fun recipes in her book, which can be ordered online at bluegrasscookingclinic.com or on Amazon.

Butterscotch Brownies

From “Cookies!” by Barbara Harper Bach

Yield: 16 brownies

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Crisco, melted
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Melt the Crisco in a pan on medium heat and then move off the heat.
2. Mix in the brown sugar, vanilla and egg.
3. Stir in the flour, salt, baking powder, chips and nuts, if using.
4. Pour into an 8X8 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (If you’re making a double or quadruple batch you may need to cook for longer.)
5. Cut while still warm.

Pillow Case Cookies

Yield: About a dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, cut into tablespoons)
• 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large work bowl, mix flour, sugar and baking powder with a wire whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until crumbs are coarse.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, yolk, milk and vanilla.
3. Add the flour mixture stirring until liquid is combined and, using your hands, work dough until it comes together into a large ball.
4. Shape into a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for one hour.
5. On a well-floured surface, roll out the sweet dough to a bout 1/4-inch thick and cut into big 3-inch shapes.
6. Bake on two ungreased cookie sheets at 350 degrees until golden, about 15 minutes.
7. When cool, ice with fondant icing if desired (1 pound powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup and enough hot water to make spreadable. Add food coloring as desired.)

This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 6:00 AM.

Janet Patton

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-379-5233

Janet Patton covers restaurants, bars, food and bourbon for the Herald-Leader. She is an award-winning business reporter who also has covered agriculture, gambling, horses and hemp. Support my work with a digital subscription