Emergency birthday cookies

Necessity is the mother of invention, so the old saying goes.  But I pushed that to the limit last night when I realised - at 9pm - that my friend from work had had a birthday that day without many people knowing.  I think everyone deserves to have at least a little fuss made on a birthday, even if they're not big on celebrating it, so I thought the least I could do would be to make some kind of cake.  But after a week away from home, my cupboards were quite literally bare.

Hardly enough flour, and no lemons, oranges, chocolate or raisins for flavour or texture.  What I did have was a large unopened bottle of amaretto, which held some promise.  Hence the following recipe.  I almost thought it was too simple to post, but the cookies turned out much better than I was expecting and disappeared pretty quickly when I took them into work.  I therefore deem them blog-worthy!

Amaretto Cookies

2 cups cake flour (if you don't have this to hand, an easy substitute is to use plain flour, removing 2 tbsp for each cup you use)
1/2 cup wholewheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tbsp amaretto (I would suggest adding a bit more than this - the flavour was fairly faint in the batch I made)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

The website I found the recipe on gave no instructions for preparation, apart from mixing all the ingredients, chilling the dough, and then baking in whatever cookie shape you like for around 8-10 minutes.  Unlike some of my co-bloggers, I prefer having a few instructions to guide the process, so I'd suggest the best order for this would be to cream the butter and sugar together, then add the egg, the amaretto and the vanilla extract and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.  Mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk in another bowl, and then add this to the butter mixture a third at a time, beating after each addition.

Leave the dough in the fridge for about an hour to give it time to firm up, and then either roll it out and cut into cookie shapes, or take the quick and easy route like me, scooping small balls of dough onto a parchment-lined sheet and pressing down with two fingers until they look approximately like a cookie.  They didn't spread too far in the oven, but I'd still suggest leaving plenty of room between each one.  You might also want to sprinkle each cookie with a little demerera sugar before baking.

These don't take long to cook - between 8-10 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees, or until the edges start to turn golden.  And you should get between 20 and 24 cookies out of the mixture, depending on how big or small you like them.  They may not be particularly exciting birthday-fare, but are perfect as elevenses with a nice cup of tea or coffee.  And even if you don't like a fuss being made, happy birthday anyway Glenn!