Second-Stab Saturday: New England Cinnamon Drops (they are now raisin-free!)

Today, we are revisiting a recipe that had so much potential but came out so bland.

New England Cinnamon Drops 1 cup sugar ¼ cup shortening ¼ cup butter 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 egg 1½ tsp vanilla ½ tsp almond extract 1 cup thick sour milk, or buttermilk* 3 cups flour Cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling Heat oven to 375°. Grease a cookie sheet. Cream the sugar, butter, shortening, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg and extracts, beat well. Then mix in the flour. Drop by the teaspoon onto baking sheets. Then sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon sugar. If desired, pat them into a neater shape after sprinkling (the cinnamon-sugar will keep them from sticking to your fingertips). Bake 10-12 minutes, or until golden on the bottom. *You can also use sour cream. Bertha Lyman Shellington, 3 West Park Avenue, Haddonfield, NJ; Philadelphia Inquirer Recipe Exchange, June 21 1935, page 12

Some readers may recall when we made the New England Raisin Drops. At the time, we asked "Would it have killed Bertha Lyman Shellington to add some damn vanilla?" Well today, we are flavoring the cookies with the fermented seed pods of a vining orchid that only grows in the beautiful tropics! That is, we are adding some damn vanilla. And also a little almond extract because I felt like it.

You can see the the vanilla right where it should be: in the mixing bowl instead of on the shelf.

Our cookie dough was a lot floppier than last time. Our previous New England Raisin Drops were firm enough to shape with the hands. But today's dough was too sticky for anything but spoon-dropping. Well, they are called New England Raisin drops, so I can't be mad when they acted like their name. Anyway, Bertha Lyman Shellington spoon-dropped her cookies, and she won the $2 basket of groceries.

I didn't know if today's softer dough would spread and flatten in the oven, or if the cookies would retain their shape like the last ones did. After sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar, I patted away the pointier protrusions just in case. I'm glad I did, because these cookies spread a little but not much. Also, they puffed up a lot. I could easily have made them smaller.

And of course, I will grab any excuse to play with the cookie press. For this recipe, I resisted the temptation to use every stencil in the box. I am already learning that the star is the most reliable stencil in the box. It's not the fanciest one, but the other shapes can bake into sad-looking blobs if your cookies are in a bad mood.

Our cinnamon stars looked ever-so-cute. However, I don't know whether I recommend using a cookie press for this recipe or not.

If you own a cookie press and want to try these for yourself, you should know that they did not come off the ungreased pan without a fight.

It's been a surprisingly long time since I had to scour a baking sheet.

Adding flavorings to the dough did wonders for the cookies. When I let everyone try these, one person said "These are dangerous!" and left the kitchen with two in each hand.

The cookies vanished rapidly when I wasn't looking. (Of course, I contributed to their disappearance too.) The spoon-dropped ones are what muffin tops wish they could be. They're almost like little snickerdoodle cakes. That generous splash of vanilla did wonders for them. And so did de-raisining the recipe.