COOKIE #19: SOUTHERN CREAM COOKIES

I take these cookies on the road to my best friend Cody’s house.  I’m like a traveling circus – I pack up my tricks, treats, and little animal, and head out to perform at another venue.  This big top drives 50 minutes ALL the way to Katy, TX where I get to cook in a nicer kitchen and visit with my girl and her cutie of a son, baby Corbin.



Yes, I packed my shortening
in a Hello Kitty ziploc bag

Since I have an older home, the kitchen is a far cry from “open concept” so I’m often left in there alone.  My daughter Annalie is a good companion, but since she’s learned to crawl, I’m usually left all alone all over again. So being able to bake with others is awesome. I love having people to talk to in the kitchen (and the extra hands for baby girl)! I should do this more often.  Cookie Monster Mama on the Road.  Could be another series?

Playing in the Jumperoo, set up in
the pantry with a mirror.
You can see doggy Memphis in
the background.

Now I’m not quite sure why these cookies are called Southern Cream Cookies.  Doesn’t seem much southern about them. I suppose they could’ve been invented in the south, so let’s run with that idea. And the only thing Cream about them is the sour cream that is added to the recipe. No cream filling, no creamy texture, just some sour cream thrown in. I’ll work on a new name for them as I bake…

I get my word search on and pick out all the necessary ingredients. These are pretty straight forward drop cookies until you get to the part where you dip them in cinnamon and sugar.  The batter isn't very sweet, so I’m guessing that the last minute cinnamon and sugar bath will help sweeten these puppies up.

Pre-sifted my dry ingredients
at home and packed them
up (see ziploc bag)

For fun, Cody has this cute cookie scooper that I use to make perfectly proportional little balls of dough. I roll them in my cinnamon and sugar, then flatten them, per the recipe’s unusual request.  I’ve learned from past recipes that cookies using only shortening do not flatten out on their own, so the extra step makes sense.   I simply use my fingers to smash my round balls out into little discs and pop them in the oven. 

See the cookie scooper? Spray cooking oil in it
beforehand to keep the dough from sticking!

After my taste test, what should these cookies be renamed?  Slightly Sweet Sugar Cookies. Because that is what they taste like. There is a hint of the cinnamon that the cookies were rolled in and only a mild (if that) walnut flavor that comes through.  They are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.  Really a plain cookie. And I like them as such.  I bet they’d taste really good in a banana pudding, in place of the vanilla wafers. And I have a killer banana pudding recipe…I just may have to try it. I can’t help but wonder what these would taste like with butter instead of shortening.  My guess? Better! Plus the butter would have done the “flattening” for me, so I could’ve skipped a step.

Sweet baby Corbin ! He'll love cookies
too, I'm sure :)

Looking forward in my BH&G cookbook, I have a drop sugar cookie coming up.  And it looks strangely a lot like these southern cream cookies. I LOVE sugar cookies, so I’m hoping not to be disappointed. But since these cookies aren’t a total bust, I don’t feel bad leaving a dozen or so at Cody’s house. J  Thank you Cody B for lending me your kitchen and keeping a smile on my face!  Time to take my circus back home.

Cookie Grade: B- = If this cookie were a chicken, it’d be sitting in the middle of the road. 

What I was jammin’ to: baby babble and excellent company.  Cody was making yummy stir fry while I was mixing up cookies.  SOOO lucky I have friends that like to cook too!