Anyone recognize this recipe?

[fenchurch]

Okay, here's an odd one for you... while cleaning my desk, I found a recipe for a pastry of some sort on a Post-It note in someone else's handwriting. And now I'm really curious as to what it could be.

Any guesses?

8 oz melted butter

(sifted together)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder


I'm assuming the following are in cups, though it's not indicated.
1/4 white sugar
1 1/4 brown sugar

1 egg + 1 yolk

And that's it. No other instructions including things like baking times.

Comments

[mlgm.livejournal.com]

Well, if it wasn't for the eggs, I would have guessed shortbread.

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit baffled. If it had milk it could be scones. But my hunch is it's a cookie. That egg bit, it reminds me of a cookie recipe I use.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

A cookie, because there's no liquid. The melted butter is weird, although some strange recipes do require melted butter.

The other tip-off is the egg and yolk.

[djonn]

I agree that it almost has to be for cookies or something cookie-like; there are actually some similarities (and some differences) to a chocolate-chip cookie recipe my newspaper ran recently in its food section.

Based on the newspaper's recipe, here's one way you could test it out:

////

Melt the butter; while it's still hot, add both kinds of sugar and cream together till smooth. Whisk together the egg and egg yolk till beaten; add to butter mixture and stir till well combined. Set this mixture aside so that it cools slightly.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking powder (or sift per the directions above).

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until you have cookie dough. Chill the dough thoroughly (the chocolate chip recipe I have says for an hour).

My newspaper recipe calls for forming the chilled dough into walnut-sized balls and baking at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. This is probably a good starting point, although I'd check these at 8-9 minutes (then again, my oven runs slightly hot). Its yield is about 2 dozen cookies -- but the proportions are a bit different, and this set of ingredients calls for more flour and a different proportion of sugars. Assuming this works at all, I'd predict 3 dozen cookies in a batch.

[http://users.livejournal.com/opalescence_/]

It looks like some sort of loaf to me. If you beat the butter and egg together with the sugar, then gradually blend in the dry mix (flour, salt, b.p.), then you might have a batter for some sort of loaf.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Not enough liquid for a batter. This would make a pliable dough.

The melted butter might be for ease of blending.

It sounds very close to a Snickerdoodle recipe. (http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/cookies/sdoodle.htm)

[rosiewook.livejournal.com]

I say you live on the edge and mix it all together. Throw it in for a standard cookie temp like, say, 325, maybe? Let us know what comes out.

Of course, you might want to use a cookie sheet you're not too attached to.

[http://users.livejournal.com/opalescence_/]

Yes, I guess a sweet loaf would need another stick of butter for that much flour and sugar, and another egg, as well.

But it's not snickerdoodles either, as they always have cinnamon.

It could be an old fashioned sugar cookie, then.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I go with cookie, too; I did see a strange shortbread recipe the other night that called for an egg (which was weird), but I've never seen one with both brown and white sugar...

[zola.livejournal.com]

I thought maybe a bread machine recipe at first, but the more I look... hmmm... maybe some kind of cookie base? That's a lot of sugar for a bread or shortbread, so maybe that's your base and then you add your chips or nuts or whatever?

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it might be a cookie... in fact, I thought it might be my in-laws' recipe for butterscotch cookies, but that's not it. I think I'm just gonna try making it later today and see how it turns out!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'd been planning on giving it a try today, just to see how it turns out. I probably would have gone for 350, though, so I'm glad you mentioned 375... I suspect that's a better temp.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

Near as we can tell, rackham wrote out the ingredient list fairly hastily (which is why I wasn't sure about the handwriting), but he has no clue what it's for, either. Knowing my desk, it could have been here for a really long time.