Maple Sugar Cookies

February again — the month I hate, the month that hates back, the month that exists solely to test the endurance of people who have already endured too much. But this February is different because the vaccine is in my arm and the second dose is in two weeks and the light at the end of the tunnel is no longer metaphorical, it is epidemiological, and I will take science over metaphor any day, though I am an English teacher and should probably not admit that in print.

Jennifer is pregnant. David called on Sunday to tell me, and I sat down on the kitchen floor — which is becoming my go-to location for receiving news that overwhelms me — and I said, "When?" and he said, "February. Late February." A fourth grandchild. A fourth. In the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a year that has been nothing but middle, David and Jennifer are having another baby, and the audacity of it, the hopefulness of it, the sheer biological optimism of creating a new person in a world that has spent twelve months trying to convince us all that creation is futile — the audacity of it made me laugh. I laughed on the kitchen floor and Marvin came in and said, "Why are you on the floor?" and I said, "Because David is having another baby," and Marvin said, "That's wonderful," and I don't know if he understood who David was at that moment but he understood "baby" and "wonderful" and the combination was enough.

I made rugelach — three batches, because rugelach is my response to joy the way chicken soup is my response to crisis, and this is joy, this baby, this new person, this evidence that the chain is still being added to, link by link, in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a winter, in the middle of the hardest two years of my life. The dough is Sylvia's. The filling is cinnamon and walnuts and apricot jam. The cookies are rolled into crescents and baked until golden and they are, as always, perfect. I will bring them to David and Jennifer on the porch. I will leave them by the door. The rugelach will say what I cannot yet say in person: welcome, little one. Your bubbe is ready. Your bubbe has been ready for forty years.

Three batches of rugelach was my answer to that Sunday phone call, but I know not everyone has Sylvia’s dough memorized the way I do — so when I want to share that same feeling of sweetness pressed into something you can leave on a doorstep, I turn to these Maple Sugar Cookies. They carry the same golden warmth, the same buttery promise, the same message that you can roll into a crescent or cut into a circle and it doesn’t matter — what matters is that you made them because someone somewhere gave you a reason to. A new baby, a vaccine, a February that finally blinked first: any of those will do.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 32 min (plus 1 hour chilling) | Servings: 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups pure maple sugar (or packed light brown sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure maple extract
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

Instructions

Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and maple sugar together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3–4 minutes.
Add wet ingredients. Beat in the egg, maple extract, vanilla extract, and maple syrup until fully combined and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Combine and chill. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until a soft dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight.
Preheat oven. When ready to bake, heat your oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Shape the cookies. Roll the chilled dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the granulated sugar to coat, then place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass.
Bake until golden. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the tops look barely done — they will firm up as they cool. Do not overbake.
Cool and serve. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or leave them on someone’s doorstep while they’re still warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Maple Sugar Cookies — Baked With the Same Joy I Pour Into Every Batch of Rugelach