Butterscotch Cookies

This butterscotch cookies recipe originated from a women's group in my hometown; every summer, they would bake these cookies and sell them at our county fair. As a child, these were one of my absolute favorite treats. I had never actually tried to bake them until now - though I remember whispers of horror stories from others who had tried this recipe (and had a cookie that failed to live up to the original!)

For me, the hardest part about this recipe was actually preparing them several days before I actually needed them. (Normally, my baking is more of a last minute decision; thinking several days ahead was difficult!) Fortunately, everything on my ingredient list was readily available in my kitchen - though I had order the cream of tartar online many months ago (since it's not available in Korea.) While I was preparing the dough, I was chatting with a Korean friend who was quite curious about why the dough needed to be frozen. I hypothesized that it had something with chilling the fats (the butter) so that it would bake at a much slower rate. However, once I'd finished mixed all the ingredients, I discovered that this explanation was completely wrong! The finished dough has the consistency of peanut butter (and is practically impossible to shape into a loaf); it needs to be frozen so that it can maintain its shape! I created a very rough looking loaf (using the foil to help.) Fortunately, after freezing for a couple hours, I was able to actually re-shape the dough into a true loaf (a single tube that was evenly shaped, and about the size of a rolling pin.)

When I went to bake the cookies a couple days later, I found that I had absolutely no trouble slicing and baking the cookies (though the dough was still much softer than I would have expected after several days in the freezer.) I will also say that my cookies did not really rise or flatten out during baking (which was nice since I was able to bake several cookies at one time.) Fortunately, the cookies were loved by everyone. (I sampled a small piece, and they definitely have a strong butterscotch flavor!)


Butterscotch Cookies
(yields about 6 dozen cookies - depending on how large or small you make your loaves)

2 c. brown sugar
½ c. butter, softened
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1½ t. cream of tartar
½ t. salt
3⅓ c. flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, and salt. Add to the liquid ingredients. Shape into two rolls and wrap in aluminium foil. Freeze for at least 24 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F (175°C.) Cut frozen dough into ¼ inch (½ cm) slices and bake for 9-10 minutes.