The Most Expensive Cookie I Ever Ate

Now that I’m an older woman, I think often of my dear mother during her late years and the thoughtful home-made gifts she shared with our family. One in particular tickles my tastebuds––her butter horn cookies. Mmm! I remember how we could polish off a plate of these melt-in-your-mouth treats in minutes. One day when it was my turn to provide dessert for a group of friends, I decided to make Eva’s Butter Horns.

I looked in the pantry and fridge for the ingredients and realized I didn’t have any of them on hand. So I drove to the store and purchased flour, butter, cane sugar, powdered sugar, chopped nuts, eggs and salt. Then I remembered I didn’t have a rolling pin, so I picked up that too. Total bill: $40.21. Add to that $1634.03––the purchase price for my new built-in oven––and I could see this was going to be one expensive batch of cookies. To be exact, each cookie—48 in all––cost $34.88.

But the worst was yet to come. As I tried to roll out the flour mass (make that mess), the dough stuck to the rolling pin for dear life. Impatience got the best of me! I added a bit of flour to the board and to the dough, but no luck. I heaved a sigh and started over. Then it dawned on me that it makes sense to flour the rolling pin before rolling out the dough. That helped a bit, but the result was anything but the perfect circle my mother used to make.

It’s pretty hard to make butter horns (visualize miniature crescent rolls) unless the circle of dough is very thin and very round. After much frustration, I managed to make three-dozen cookies that only vaguely resembled the perfect ones Mom created.

However, the guests didn’t know the difference. Every cookie vanished from the plate within ten minutes of my arrival. I was lucky to eat just one, but I was determined to get my $34.88 share.

Recipe for Eva’s Butter Horns

Dough:

1 cup butter (softened)

2 cups flour (white or wheat)

1 egg yolk, slightly beaten

3/4 cup light sour cream

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup of finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Directions

Cut butter into flour. Combine egg yolk and sour cream. Blend with flour mixture. Form into ball and cover with waxed paper. Chill in refrigerator overnight or for several hours before baking.

Divide dough into three parts. Roll each part into a circle about 12″ in diameter. Cut each circle into 16 wedges with knife or pizza cutter.

Prepare the filling. Combine sugar, nuts, and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture over the dough. Roll each wedge, starting with the wide end, shaping into crescents.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet until light brown at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to cool. Dust with powdered sugar.

Share and enjoy!