Maple Glazed Cookies

It was Thanksgiving Day. My contribution was to be:

1. Yeast Rolls. I felt pretty confident about these, since I had just taken the bread class the week prior.
2. Dressing. Easy – I’ve made this a couple times before.
3. Pumpkin Cookies. I’d made a difference recipe before, there was already going to be pecan pie in attendance, so it was a good variation. Besides, how hard can a cookie be, right?

So I whip up the pumpkin cookie dough, drop it onto the sheet, and throw it in the oven. I peek in halfway through baking time and notice they aren’t rising. At all. The timer goes off and I pull them out of the oven, and they haven’t risen at all. I forgot to add baking powder and baking soda. That’ll do it.

I tasted one, and it had he consistency of a mini-pumpkin pie, and the taste of tube socks. They were disgusting. I wouldn’t eat them myself, much less serve them to my family. So I dumped them in the trash. I figured nobody would care whether I brought a dessert, and reminded myself to try out new recipes on October 12 or May 17, not Thanksgiving morning.

But I sat around playing with the kids and thought about what else I could make easily. I was out of pumpkin, but remembered I had just bought a new jar of maple syrup, and thought maybe a maple cookie could be my comeback. I could rally for Thanksgiving dessert. A quick search around the internet came up with this dough recipe, and I created a glaze to top it off.

Not only were these cookies good, they were so good I made a second batch yesterday.

A few words of wisdom before proceeding with this delicious and simple recipe. Do not – I repeat do not attempt to substitute imitation maple syrup for real maple syrup. Mrs. Butterworth is nostalgic, but she isn’t for cookies. In fact, I would like to assert that “breakfast syrup” as it is sneakily named should be avoided whenever possible. However, maple syrup is more expensive, so if you aren’t used to buying it, don’t say you haven’t been warned. Also, these cookies will stick. I greased the pan well and still had trouble with them sticking. If you have a silicone baking pad, use it. If not, grease your pans heavily. You will thank me for it.

Please, please make these tonight. Or you could wait until tomorrow if you’re tired. They’re now in my top five favorite cookies of all time.

Maple Glazed Cookies
1 stick (1/2 C.) butter
1/2 C. sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 C. maple syrup
1 1/2 C. flour
1 t. salt

Glaze
1 C. powdered sugar
1 T. maple syrup
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/4 C. milk
Kosher salt for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. It should look about like this. Creamy. If your butter is cold this can take a couple minutes.

Add in the egg yolk and maple syrup. Mix well. You’ll have something that resembles maple soup. Sprinkle the salt over the mixture, then add the flour in half at a time until well combined.

Drop the cookies onto a VERY well greased baking sheet in fairly uniform sizes. Then, using a floured bottom of a glass, press the cookies down just a bit to help them flatten out. (See before, front, and after, behind – below.)

Bake for 10-12 minutes. You should probably turn/rotate your baking sheets halfway through because these go from just right to overly done quickly, so you want them to bake evenly.

While they’re in the oven, whip together that glaze.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, syrup and cinnamon. Add in the milk a little at a time until you have a nice, thick but spreadable glaze. Once the cookies have cooled, spoon some of the glaze on, and top with a light sprinkle of kosher salt (or any course salt). Do NOT skip this step unless you’re on a sodium-restricted diet. It is, in my opinion, the best part of the cookie.

Enjoy, and be thankful for even failure in the kitchen, because sometimes it leads to maple glazed cookies.