Marvelous Pigs in Satin

Any church potluck is practically guaranteed to have these delicious cookies.  Here’s a variation I created Sunday afternoon that turned out to be the perfect cookie ever.  They were just crispy on the outside, but soft and chewy in the center.

1/2 cup (1 stick)  butter, softened

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup whole wheat flour *

2 cups all purpose (white) flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 1/2  teaspoons apple pic spice (the hint of nutmeg makes all the difference! but you can use plain cinnamon if that is what you have.)

1.  Whip the butter and coconut oil in mixer until fluffy.  Add sugar and beat 10 minutes, until sugar crystals begin to dissolve into the butter.  (I learned this trick from my awesome cousin, whose name happens to be the same as mine.)

2.  Beat in eggs.

3.  Mix the flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tarter in a separate bowl.  Stir into butter mixture.

4.  Roll the dough into balls about the size of walnuts.

5.  Mix the 3 Tbs. of sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice in a bowl.  Roll the cookie balls in the sugar to coat, place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400*F for 8-10 minutes.  (10 minutes was perfect for my aluminum air-bake cookie sheet, 8 was perfect for my dark-coated cookie sheet.)

This batch makes 4 dozen cookies if you don’t snitch a single smidgen of the dough.  Since that will never happen in my house, I only plan on 3 1/2 dozen.

* I am so used to cooking with whole wheat flour that plain white flour baked goods taste like paper to me.  However, whole wheat flour really affects the texture of cookies, so I use about 1/2 of the quantity of flour or a little less as whole wheat flour.  You can make this recipe with all white flour.  It just won’t taste as good, though.

Tags: cinnamon, cookies, whole wheat