My friend Judith Sutton is a wonderful baker and I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy many treats from her kitchen, but I had never had these cookies until I found them in her wonderful cookbook, Sweet Gratitude, which should be in the hands of anyone who likes sugar. I’ve tinkered ever so slightly with her beautifully simple recipe, but the magic remains. No eggs, no fuss—just mix, roll, slice, bake. The result is like the essence of toffee in a cookie. You can keep a roll of this dough in the freezer for those times when you have low blood sugar and nothing will do but a warm cookie.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
- 1½ cups dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
How to Make It
- Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the flour.
- Divide the dough into three 6-inch-long logs and wrap each in plastic. Chill them for at least 2 hours, or overnight. (The delicate dough needs the long chilling time to be workable.)
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a serrated knife to slice a log into 24 slices, ¼ inch thick, and put them 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, just until the cookies are golden. Cool them for a few moments on the baking sheet, then transfer them to racks to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store the cookies in airtight containers for up to 1 week.
