Betty Crocker – Old Fashioned Sour Cream Drops

Ingredients

• ½ cup soft shortening (113g Lard)
• 1½ cups sugar (approx. 300g)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup thick sour cream (240ml)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2¾ cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour (approx. 303g plain flour)
• ½ tsp soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder

Method

1. Mix together the shortening, sugar and eggs.
2. Stir in the cream and vanilla.
3. Sift together and stir in, the flour, soda, salt and baking powder.
4. Chill at least 1 hour.
5. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls about 2″ apart on lightly greased baking sheet.
6. Bake until delicately browned, just until, when touched lightly with finger, almost no imprint remains.

Baking

• Bake in a hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes (220°C, 425°F , Gas Mark 7, Fan 200°C).

Quantity

• About 5 doz. 2½″ cookies.

Variations

• Butterscotch Cookies with Burnt Butter Icing – Really delectable, especially with the unusual buttery icing.
  • Follow recipe above except use brown sugar in place of granulated sugar. Mix into the dough ⅔ cup cut-up nuts (approx. 87g). Spread cooled cookies with
  • BURNT BUTTER ICING – Melt 4 tbsp. butter until golden brown. Blend in 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx. 125g) and ½ tsp. vanilla. Stir in 1 to 2 tbsp. hot water until icing spreads smoothly. (AMOUNT: Icing for about 30 cookies.)
• Coconut Cream Drops
  • Follow recipe above except mix into the dough 1 cup moist shredded coconut (approx. 90g).
• Chocolate Cream Drops
  • Follow recipe above except stir into shortening mixture 2 sq. unsweetened chocolate (2 oz, 56g), melted. Mix into the dough 1 cup cut-up nuts (approx. 130g). Frost cooled cookies if desired with
  • CHOCOLATE ICING – Melt together over hot water 1 tbsp. butter and 1 sq. unsweetened chocolate (1 oz, 28g). Stir in 3 tbsp. top milk and 1½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approx.187g). Thin with cream to make glossy and easy to spread. (AMOUNT: Icing for about 30 cookies.)
• Fruit and Nut drops
  • Follow recipe above except sift with dry ingredients 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. cloves, ¼ tsp. nutmeg. Mix into the dough 1 cup cut-up dates (or raisins) (approx. 160g) and 1 cup cut-up nuts (approx. 130g).
  • NOTE: The spices may be omitted.

Title

Betty Crocker Picture Cooky Book

Author

General Mills Company – Betty Crocker was not a real person; she was a fictional persona created in 1921 by the Washburn-Crosby Company (which later became General Mills).