Instructions: The sour cream makes these wonderful. I usually make these in the evening. Afterwards Ill make a double batch of forgotten cookies with four of the leftover egg whites, pop two in the refrigerator in plastic container, and use one egg white to glaze the cookies. Or, make a batch of Haselnussbroetchen, using the extra egg yolk from the Haselnussbroetchen to glaze these cookies. Traditional shapes in our family include roosters, four-leaf clovers and fish.

*(can substitute 2 whole eggs). Do not double this recipe.

Cream the butter until very light. Add sugar; cream butter and sugar until combined. Add egg yolks and sour cream and beat until combined. Slowly add flour and baking powder

(even with the pouring shield on my mixer, I still get flour all over the table if I add too q quickly). Mix on low speed until dough is uniform. Refrigerate until cold (about one or two hours).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out some dough to about 3/8 of an inch thick. Refrigerate remaining dough. Cut cookies and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with egg white or beaten whole egg. Bake 15 minutes until golden; watch carefully!

Notes: If you use jumbo eggs or are baking in a hot, humid

(i.e. Florida) kitchen, reduce yolks to 6. A stand mixer works best. Most hand mixers dont have the power to work with this much cookie dough, and you must add the last bit of flour by hand. jmerrill@prodigy.com

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