We are only a few short weeks into the season of Lent. My lack of chocolate is seriously affecting my culinary skills. This recipe below is very simple, until such time that it isn’t. I chose to make these cookies thinking this is easy and I can do this in a short period of time in between laundry and other odds and ends.

Read the recipe below carefully for the fatal error and you will see what happened and how I attempted to recover from this flub. It turned out well in the end but it was touch and go there for a while.

What you need:

1 ½ cups King Arthur flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt (I use Malden Sea Salt Flakes)

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for later

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (King Arthur Vanilla Plus)

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Secret: fresh nutmeg. User a grater to grate as desired

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until it looks yummy and mixed. Then add in the egg and continue finally adding the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and continue until just mixed, not too much.

OOPS- this is when it went sideways. As I was looking at the mixed batter, it looked awfully wet. I thought to myself, what did I do? Then it dawned on me: I added two FULL sticks of butter, not 1 ¼. So now I am panicked. I am out of sugar and cannot start over so I do what any good COOK would do. Improvise. I start adding flour by the handful, yes handful, no measuring cups and hit the KitchenAid to blend on low. I keep adding until the consistency appears right and then I stop.

Ok now carry on….

On the side and in the meantime, mix 2 tablespoons of sugar, the cinnamon and grated nutmeg to taste. Roll the dough into small balls, then roll each one in the sugar & spice mixture.

Place the ready to bake balls on parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving enough room in between. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake.

Remove and let sit for a few seconds and then transfer the cookies to racks to cool completely. (I dusted with confectioner’s sugar for  no reason except I like how it looks.)

These came out great and yummy and ironically not too buttery. I was sweating there for a minute but all is good. I need chocolate soon; how many days left till Easter?