| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 55 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Inactive: | 10 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | approximately 70 cookies |
Ingredients
- 7 ounces all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 1/2 ounces vanilla sugar
- 1 large egg
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
Instructions
- Position 1 oven rack in the top third of the oven and another in the bottom third. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and vanilla sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl after 1 minute. Add the egg and incorporate on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl. Add the vanilla extract and milk and blend on low speed for 15 seconds. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just to incorporate. Chill the batter in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes before scooping.
- Scoop the batter in teaspoon-sized balls and arrange them on 2 parchment paper-lined half sheet pans, approximately 35 cookies per pan. Use the heel of your hand to slightly flatten each ball. Bake, 2 pans at a time, rotating the pans halfway through the baking, until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans to a cooling rack to cool completely before removing the cookies from the pan.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 70 servings |
| Calories | 29 |
| Total Fat | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Carbohydrates | 4 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 1 g |
| Protein | 0 g |
| Cholesterol | 6 mg |
| Sodium | 16 mg |
Reviews
I got little cookie balls with burnt bottoms. Yay.
Pppp
My husband and family loved these served on the side with Alton’s banana pudding. So sorry some people didn’t get these results. Some mentioned texture so could it be they have too hot of ovens, or didn’t use the middle oven rack? I always sift my flour and use King Arthur unbleached AP. I have the “air bake” sheet pans for delicate cookies like these. I will make these again!
Tasted okay, but NOT Nilla Wafery. More like a cross between shortbread and sugar cookie. Plus they are dry and dense. I’ll keep looking for a recipe for Nilla wafers.
I hate recipes like this. “Aluminum free” baking powder? “Kosher” salt? “Vanilla” sugar”? If I made the same recipe with generic baking powder, regular salt and some additional vanilla extract and a little more sugar – could the author tell the difference? I seriously doubt it.
Followed the recipe exactly. The surface of these cookies is lumpy, not smooth. They taste like vanilla spritz cookies and not like Nilla Wafers. Just meh.
This is the exact recipe verbatim from the Nola (New Orleans Food and Recipe News, THE TIMES-PICAYUNE RECIPE ) paper. It says ” Food Heritage stage at Jazz Fest 2013 was a dessert from Lee Richardson” Even down to the ounces in the measurements lol. Did Alton Brown invent this?
Phenomenal Five-Star recipe! Waayyyyyy better than the store brand wafers (which use wood pulp as an ingredient AND no real vanilla; yuck!). My keys to success: 1. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour. 2. scoop teaspoon-sized balls. 3. Allow pan to cool completely before cooking more cookies.
I love Alton Browns recipes, but this one for me was just so so. I measured my ingredients, used the vanilla sugar and a good quality vanilla and to me these taste just like sugar cookies with a little extra vanilla flavoring. They are good but they just don’t taste like the Nilla Wafers from the store.