Gold Cookies

A good way to use up extra egg yolks - tasty cookies, too!

An old cookie recipe that uses up four egg yolks.

Does anyone else feel wistful about our old 3x5 recipe cards? I still love the intimacy of their quick notes, somehow personal in a way that the Internet is not, cannot, will never be.

Take a hand-written recipe for Gold Cookies, one taken from my own huge 3x5 collection started when I was about age 10, continuing until I began blogging in 2005 and my recipe collection moved online. The corner reads 'VVG, code for 'very very good' and beneath it is the reminder why this otherwise simple recipe is so useful, 4 egg yolks. This was 'tagging' for the analog world of recipe cards.

Yes, this recipe calls for four egg yolks, that's what gives the cookies a light gold color. For anyone looking for good ways to use up leftover egg yolks, this knocks out four at a time. (More recipes for using up egg yolks and egg whites.)

The cookies are also - what's that code? - VVG, crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. They're quite sweet, for it's sugar that delivers the texture. In the version pictured here, I rolled the dough balls in cinnamon-spiked coconut but the original recipe called for chopped nuts. Both coconut and nuts work, choose whichever is on hand or better yet, like the egg yolks, needs using up.

ALANNA's TIPS Cookie sheets vary so much in performance! I tested this recipe with a good non-stick baking sheet and with a silicone mat.

The original recipe called for shortening so if you have Crisco around, go for it.

GOLD COOKIES

Very very good, especially at using up egg yolks

Hands-on time: 10 minutes to mix, 20 minutes to roll
Time-to-table: 2 hours
Makes 4 dozen cookies but easy to halve

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup coconut, preferably unsweetened, ground fine in a small food processor (or 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, preferably toasted first)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolks, milk and vanilla, beat in thoroughly. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, beat in thoroughly. Collect the dough into a big ball, cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 400F. Stir together the coconut or nuts and cinnamon in a small bowl. Form dough into small balls, roll in coconut-cinnamon mixture. Place on baking sheet with plenty of space between. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Let cool a bit, then transfer to a rack or a paper towel to finish cooling.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Cookie: 61Cal; 1g Protein; 2g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 9g Carb; 0g Fiber; 31mg Sodium; 22mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 1 point

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.
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