6/16/2021 -- I saw some really thin sugar cookies and Wegman's that reminded me of these Short Stack Cookies I made back in 2008. Sometimes I question why I have this blog, but being able to pull up old recipes is a good reason.
At the time, I thought the cookies baked up too flat (which they did), so recently I re-worked the recipe a little bit to make the cookies slightly thicker. Now they are thin but not super thin. They're also chewy, and they do not have much maple flavor at all. You can easily make them maple flavored by adding a little maple syrup, but Short Stack cookies just taste like plain sugar cookies. For some reason the flavor reminds me of the old Pillsbury Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies.
Here's the old post from way back....
Short Stack Cookies Post from 2008
Today’s recipe was sent to me by Brooke. Brooke is a fan of Joanne Fluke, who writes stories about Hannah Swenson, a woman who runs a bakery called “The Cookie Jar” and helps solve mysteries. To date, I have not read a Hannah Swenson book, but I like books with recipes and am sure I’d enjoy the series. For this post, I went ahead and used a version of the recipe posted on-line. It's called "Short Stack Cookies" -- all the flavor of buttery pancakes with maple syrup, tied into a cookie.
Yup, that’s a short stack, all right. My cookies turned out a little thin for some reason. Maybe Hannah Swenson scoops her flour? I’m not sure, but I had to let these cool on the sheet then peel them off. Once peeled off, they were sturdy, but something's strange here.....it's a mystery!
The Short Stack Cookies did have a good flavor, so if you are not intimidated by super-thin and chewy cookies, then I recommend this recipe. Or maybe you could make it and prove that I did something wrong.
Recipe
Short Stack Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup salted butter 180 grams
- 1 cup sugar 200 grams
- 1 large large beaten egg bring to room temperature
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, bleached** (280 grams)
- ¼ cup coarse (or white) sugar for coating the dough balls
Instructions
- Melt the butter and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
- Add the sugar to the melted butter, then add the beaten egg. Add maple syrup, soda, salt and vanilla and stir well, then add the flour and blend thoroughly.
- Chill the dough for at least 1 hour (overnight is fine too).
- Shape dough into 1 inch balls (or make them slightly smaller or larger, depending on your mood). Roll in coarse or sparkly sugar, then flatten down to a little less than ½ inch. Place on parchment linked baking pans. Give each dough circle plenty of room to spread.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool on the cookie sheets for no more than 1 minute, then remove to the rack to finish cooling (If you leave them on the cookie sheets for too long, they'll stick).
Notes
-- ¼ C brown sugar,
-- ½ tsp baking powder and ¾ tsp baking soda.
-- added 1 tsp maple extract. topped them with a quick buttermilk-maple glaze cause I wanted a buttermilk flavor in the pancake as well. Glaze: 2 tablespoons buttermilk, ½ tsp maple extract, powdered sugar to consistency desired. drizzled on baked cookies over cooling rack.
Leigh Ann says
I just made these cookies yesterday. They tasted like a very buttery sugar cookie but didn't have any maple flavor at all. I thought I'd look around and see if anyone else had made them and found your blog. One thing I discovered, the print editions of the book have 4 teaspoons of baking soda, the ebook has two. I think the print version was a mistake. I made mine with two teaspoons since I had the ebook. I also didn't flatten them before baking, just let them spread on their own. I baked them for 10 minutes. They came out thick and chewy, just disappointing because I was expecting a mouthful of pancake flavors. I think they could use some maple extract and also replace one cup of white sugar with one cup of brown. I didn't pack my flour, just scooped and leveled like a normal person does. I should have put it all in a bowl and weighed it at the beginning. I can't put a photo in a comment but here is a link to the picture of mine. Also the recipe says don't leave them on the cookie sheet too long or they'll stick. I let mine cool on the sheet and they were fine. I don't see how anything with that much butter could possibly stick to anything. https://ourbusylife123.com/2020/09/04/cookie-picture/
Anna says
Good luck with them! You may want to make the updated version written below. When I made them they came out really thin.
Colleen says
I love these books. I have made the peanut butter melts and the blue berry muffins! both were delicious especially muffins. Short stacks are next.
Tisha says
I did the recipe exactly as written, but used whole wheat flour. My cookies came out thick like a pancake and tasted like buckwheat pancakes...very yummy!
Derek says
Well, even with the changes they are still pretty flat. Usually my ratio for a nice, dense, chewy cookie is..
4 oz butter
7 oz sugar (mixed)
1 tbsp corn syrup
1 egg
1-2 tsp extract
7.5 oz flour (different kinds)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bk soda
1/2 tsp bk powder
this one when scaled down is
4 oz melted butter
2/3 cups sugar
1 large beaten eggs
3 tbsp maple syrup
1.33 teaspoons baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour (not sifted) (about 6 oz)
The wicked amnt of bk soda, less flour, melted butter, and syrup all would increase spread. Personally I don't see a reason to melt the butter, I just creamed mine, But I guess to add more flavor you could brown the butter first and use that.
Lara says
Hee! I giggled at "It's a mystery!" Maybe they're supposed to be that thin?
Anna says
Well, there you go.
Katie, you have solved the mystery.
With 4 cups of flour, the full recipe could be off by at least 1 cup of flour.
I'm always astounded at how much more flour I get when I shake the cup or scoop and pack -- probably 1/4 cup more per cup.
Spooned and swept I get 4 1/2 oz
Packed, I get at least 5 1/2 oz
This is why we should all just weigh everything....oh, and switch to metric! Baking would be so much more accurate.
Katie says
I just remembered that Fluke "scoops" and "packs" her flour and doesn't sift- so probably you could use at least 1/4 cup more flour. Typically, she also uses melted butter and then chills the dough. My mother and I have read the entire series and we still haven't figured out why someone would bake cookies with melted butter.
Brooke says
Anna, thanks so much for making these 🙂 I definitely pictured them as being thicker too! But at least they tasted okay! I wonder if all the butter has something to do with the flatness? I personally like a nice thick, chewy cookie... Thanks for giving them a shot for me! Now I'll have to try one of her recipes on my own!
Anna says
Katie, I remember you mentioning it now! Forgot about the cheesecake, though. I'll try it.
Derek, thanks so much for those changes! I'm going to re-write the recipe with your changes and give it a try. Since the original has so much flour, I'll cut it in half.
CC, the 4 teaspoons of baking soda was odd, but not outlandish because there was also a lot of flour and sugar. However, it might have been a typo. That's the problem with getting a recipe off sites like that.
BTW. Did anyone noticed the feature that lets you turn the recipe into a puzzle? At first, I thought it was silly, but the puzzle turned out to be a "Search a Word" and Fuzz loves those. Maybe I should turn my blog into a big puzzle?
Clumbsy Cookie says
Anna, good morning!
The cookies have a lot of butter, but what I thought it was most strange in the recipe is the amount of baking soda. 4 tspn??? This does not sound right... I think that's why they turned out so thin... But hey, If they taste good how cares?
Derek says
I've been lurking around the website for awhile, thought I'd post cause I tweaked the cookie a little to make it a bit thicker.
Added 1 C flour, 1/2 C brown sugar, cut it back to 1 tsp baking powder and 1.5 tsp baking soda. added 2 tsp maple extract. topped them with a quick buttermilk-maple glaze cause I wanted a buttermilk flavor in the pancake as well. 1/4 C buttermilk, 1 tsp maple extract, powdered sugar to consistency desired. drizzled on baked cookies over cooling rack. Yummm
Katie says
Anna,
I love the Joanne Fluke books and the Diane Mott Davidson. It seems that there is a trend towards mystery novels that include recipes! I mentioned this to you before, but I really think you'd be interested in Fluke's recipe for Cherry cheesecake. It's from her book "Cherry Cheesecake Murder". It has an ingredient I think you'd be surprised to see in a cheesecake!
LINA says
I love cookies! your blog is wonderful!
Anna says
Thanks for all the Hannah Swenson recommendations. Hey, at least if I don't like the mysteries, I'll have the recipes.
Brian, you raised a good point. I pulled mine out of the oven at 9 or 10 minutes. The bake time in the recipe was too long.
Maybe I'll obsess over how I could turn this into a thicker, more maple-flavored cookie.
brian says
I made some pirouette's recently that look to be about as thin, though I'm surprised at how long these short stacks bake since my cookies were done in half the time of these short stacks. Maple syrup sounds yummy in a cookie.
angel van says
her books are the greatest. i have ever/read every single one of her books. i just wish i had a kitchen that i could make all her recipes in.
Stacy says
I'm currently reading a Hannah Swenson book right now too! I love this type of book, I think it's called a "cozy" where it's a light mystery, solved by an everyday person, not a policeman or detective. I'm only on the second Hannah Swenson though, and haven't tried any of her recipes. I think there's several in each book 🙂
Have a great day!
Jackie says
I have been reading the Hannah Swenson books too. I liked the idea of a mystery book that includes cookie recipes. It's fun reading. Would be a good book to take to the beach as it's not fine literature by any means but it's entertaining.
VeggieGirl says
Wow, those ARE thin cookies! As long as they taste good, that's all that matters :0)