I recently recalled this once favorite cookie recipe from my childhood and emailed my mom to see if she still had it. My mom said the recipe had a handwritten note on it I had written that read: "Makes 50 cookies...makes 45 when Mom or Brenda is present." The two of them had a habit of swiping dough balls from the cookie sheet as they awaited their turn in the oven. I combated this attrition by waiting for them to leave the house before making cookies.
I probably roll the cookies proportional to my hand size, for the batch I made recently only yielded 27 cookies, considerably less than the 45-50 that my small hands rolled some 20+ years ago.
Preheat oven to 375°F
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground clove
Cream together butter, sugars and eggs until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the dough while mixing on low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to ensure even mixing.
Form dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and gently roll in a shallow bowl filled with additional sugar. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Do not press down. Cookies will crackle towards the end of the baking cycle. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until lightly brown and inside of crackles does not appear raw. Remove from oven and promptly transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Makes about 27 cookies.
