Jacob Smith’s “Salted Blue Butter Cookies”

[JordanStump]

Every year the small town (population 500) in which I live has a town fair. It’s a classic event with music, crafts, an ice cream stand staffed by the junior high school (two grades, 13 kids), a nail driving competition, an egg toss, a skillet toss, and even a dunk tank (it’s fun to dunk your teacher and the volunteer firemen, evidently). There is also a baking competition sponsored by King Arthur Flour, which is located in Vermont just a few hours away. People make some amazing things, but it’s all in good fun. A few years ago I entered a pear tarte that won 2nd place, losing out to a chocolate cake baked by two 9 year olds. I knew that my next entry would have to be special, so I decided to focus on one of our best local crops: blueberries!

This cookie taste like shortbread: buttery, salty, with sweetness from white chocolate chips. The blueberry isn’t noticeable in the taste, but it makes for a memorable look that is super to get compliments at your next demo day, meetup, SIG or TOC. What’s even better is you can make the dough in advance, freeze them, and pop them into the oven. 15 minutes later you’ll have a gourmet tasting cookie.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup - Butter, Softened (vegan butter works great) 1/3 cup - Sugar 1 cup - King Arthur Organic All Purpose Flour 1/8th tsp - Salt (Maldon for finishing) 1/2 tsp - Baking Powder 1/3 cup - Frozen Blueberries 1/2 cup - White Chocolate Chips (vegan as possible) 1/3 cup - Macadamia Nuts, Chopped

To bake:

• Heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Cook blueberries in a pan until jammy. Yum!
• Beat the blueberries into the sugar…like a lot. Use a mixer.
• Mix dry ingredients together, then add in the wet stuff and mix
• Add in chocolate chips and nuts
• Put in the fridge for 30 minutes, then take out and form into balls
• This is the point where you can freeze them for future use, or bake them right away.
• To bake, press each ball down on cookie sheet until flat and top with finishing salt (Maldon works great).
• Bake ~12 minutes, or until the edges / top begin to brown just a bit.
• Let rest on a cooling rack for a few minutes. Eat!