Vanilla Snaps

• 1/2 cup/1 stick/4 ounces butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• flavored sugar for coating (see note)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Grease cookie sheets, probably at least three. Cream the butter and sugar in one bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg, corn syrup and vanilla, adn blend very well. Then, use another bowl to mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add that to the creamed mixture and mix until smooth. Chill for half an hour. Pinch off pieces of dough that can be rolled into 1-inch balls, and roll them in a dish of the flavored sugar, coating completely. Place 3 inches apart from each other on the sheets. Dip the bottom of a glass in the sugar and flatten each ball out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until firm, and then cool on a wire rack.

NOTE: The main flavor for this recipe would be vanilla sugar since these are vanilla snaps. To make that, take some sugar and put a whole vanilla bean into a container with it. (You can use any kind of sugar: Granulated, confectioner's, or superfine.) Leave it for three or four days and it will be properly full of vanilla. One bean can flavor pounds of sugar if you just refill the container over and over. If you want orange or lemon sugar, just add 1 teaspoon of the appropriate fresh-grated zest (or 1 tablespoon of dried) to 1 cup of sugar, or if you want cinnamon-sugar just mix 1 cup of sugar with 2-3 tablespoons of cinnamon. In this way you can make orange snaps (using 3 tablespoons orange juice and 2 teaspoons of fresh-grated orange zest or 2 tablespoons of prepared orange zest in place of the vanilla extract and increasing the flour to 2 1/4 cups, rolling in orange sugar at the end); you can make lemon snaps (using 2 teaspoons of fresh-grated lemon zest or 2 tablespoons prepared lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice instead of vanilla extract and increasing the flour to 2 1/4 cups, rolling in lemon sugar at the end); you can make cinnamon snaps (by using cinnamon-sugar instead of just vanilla sugar); you can make vanilla nut snaps (by increasing the vanilla extract to 2 teaspoons ad adding 1 cup of finely chopped pecans before chilling, rolling in vanilla sugar); you can even make chocolate snaps (by melting 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate over low heat, cooling it, and adding to the creamed mixture before adding the flour mix, as well as substituting dark corn syrup for light--and still using vanilla sugar).