Today on the Sonrise Morning Show Matt Swaim and I talked about butter and its Biblical history. I also am sharing a famous cookie recipe to make for Mother’s Day!

BUTTER

Proverbs 30:33: “As the churning of cream yields butter, and a blow to the nose causes bleeding, so anger causes quarrels.”

Butter is one food item that has stood the test of time.  

During Bible days, cream from a camel, cow, sheep or goat was poured into an animal skin. The skin was then suspended between two poles and swung back and forth until the butter was ready. 

Another method was to process it further by boiling the butterfat from the milk and then cooling it to make clarified butter, which could then be stored for a long time sealed at room temperature. 

How did they use clarified butter?

Clarified butter was used for cooking and frying and butter churns have been found in ancient Israelite sites, dating from the 4^th century BC.

Can salted and unsalted butter be used interchangeably? 

In most cases, yes. If all you have is salted butter and the recipe calls for unsalted, just add less salt to your recipe. 

Salted butter lasts a few weeks if its salted and well wrapped. For unsalted, if you don’t use it within a week or so, go ahead and freeze it.

What’s the difference between European and American butter?

Mostly in the butterfat content. Some European butters contain more than some American butters. But it’s also the process and type of cream used. That translates into more expensive cost for European or even American butters with a high butterfat.

MAKE THIS FOR THE MOMS IN YOUR LIFE!  

RECIPE MAKES 4 DOZEN

NIEMAN MARCUS $250 COOKIE REIMAGINED 

Any of you old enough to remember this story from the New York Times?

“Almost everybody has heard the one about the woman lunching at the Neiman Marcus Cafe in Dallas, who enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies so much that she asked for the recipe. For “only two-fifty,” the waitress said, it was hers. But when the credit card bill arrived, the woman found the total near $300. Turns out the recipe cost $250, the story goes. In 1997, after years of enduring the myth, Neiman Marcus came up with a recipe – and gave it out for free.”

Now what I’ve done is adapt the recipe just slightly and divided it in half so I could make 2 versions. Of course, you can do what you like – leave it as is as 1 recipe, or even divide it in 3rds: 1 original, 1 w dried fruit, 1 w coconut. 

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed – I used light

1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1⁄2 cups old fashioned oatmeal or quick, but not instant, oats finely ground in food processor or blender
2 cups flour
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
11.5 ounces chocolate chips – I used milk chocolate
1 -1⁄2 cups chopped nuts 

Optional: You can add any or both of these to the whole batch, or divide it in half as I mentioned above and go from there:

For whole batch: 1 cup coconut and/or 1 cup chopped dried fruit (I used cherries) 

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Cream together butter and both sugars until fluffy – sugars won’t be completely dissolved.

Mix in eggs and vanilla. 

Combine the oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and soda in bowl, and add it to the wet ingredients. Beat just until combined. Add chocolate chips and nuts to the batter. Mix just to combine. 

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, on parchment lined or sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Makes about 48 cookies.

Dough freezes well. Thaw before using.