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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, March 15, 2006

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A million recipes for basic cookie

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Columnist

 •  Pungent perks

My cup runneth over with recipes — about a million versions of Million Dollar Cookies and a couple of coconut pineapple pies, too, as requested.

Let's deal with Million Dollar Cookies today. Pie next week.

And while we're on pie, another request: Nancy Etzrodt is looking for Samoan fruit pie for a family member who is homesick for this South Pacific invention. It's made with canned fruit (peaches, possibly fruit cocktail) and the crust is extra-thick. Send to the address below.

There appear to be two schools of Million Dollar Cookie — a plain sugar cookie and a fancy version called Marcel's Million Dollar Cookies that includes chocolate. I'm pretty sure it's the everyday Million Dollar Cookies that Judy Yuen wanted. In all the versions we received, the shortening/sugar/flour proportion and the leavenings (eggs and baking soda) are about the same. However, some versions use vanilla only and some use some almond extract. The fats differ: Some use all butter, some margarine, some part butter and part shortening or margarine. Sugars differ, too: A number of recipes call for half white, half brown sugar. A few are drop cookies, but most are rolled and pressed. And quite a few add finely chopped walnuts.

Here's the plain-Jane version from Carol T., who got it in the 1960s from her good friend Cindy F. "It's very easy to whip together and so good that it's very hard to stop eating after one bite," she reports. That's our kind of recipe.

MILLION DOLLAR COOKIES

  • 1 cup margarine
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together margarine and butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda and gradually add to creamed mixture. If the dough seems too soft to work, chill until firm. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet, then dip bottom of glass or cup into sugar and flatten cookie to 1/8 inch. Bake in 350-degree oven 7-12 minutes. Makes 5 dozen cookies.

  • Per cookie: 65 calories, 3 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate (5 g sugar), 1 g protein. (Thanks to Joanne Horita for sending a Pillsbury version with nutritional analysis.)

    Send recipes and queries to Wanda A. Adams, Food Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.

    For more information about our 150th anniversary cookbook, call 535-8189 (message phone; your call will be returned). You can pre-order the cookbook online.