Recipe: Butterscotch Cookies

Butterscotch Cookies

Makes about thirty 3-inch cookies

Marion Cunningham's 2003 cookbook, "Lost Recipes," is a paean to forgotten favorites, including these big, rich, crisp cookies that used to be sold by Schrafft's, a long-gone restaurant chain in Boston and New York known for its comfort food. The dough may be wrapped well and frozen for up to 1 month. Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup vegetable shortening, such as Crisco, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons nonfat dried milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups flour, plus more for shaping

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease or line baking sheets with parchment paper. Have ready a glass or mug with a 3-inch-wide base.

In the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, combine the butter and shortening and beat for a few seconds. Add the sugar and beat until creamy and slightly lightened in color. Add the egg, dried milk and vanilla extract and beat for about 1 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a fork to mix well. On low speed, add to the sugar-butter mixture and mix well, then add the pecans and mix just to combine. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, spaced 2 inches apart, onto the baking sheets. Dip the bottom of the glass into flour and use it to press the mounds of dough into 3-inch rounds. (If the dough sticks a little as you lift off the glass, scrape it from the glass and just pat any bits back onto the circle of dough to make it even and neatly round.) Dip the glass into the flour after each pressing. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 30 seconds before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Per cookie: 134 calories, 2 g protein, 12 g carbohydrates, 9 g fat, 9 mg cholesterol, 2 g saturated fat, 67 mg sodium, 1 g dietary fiber

Recipe tested by Candy Sagon; e-mail questions tofood@washpost.com