Homemade Nilla Wafers

I made these to go with the Swedish Berry Cream Dessert. They were all right, not great. If I did it again, I think I'd replace the butter with shortening to try and have them not flatten out so much.

Ingredients
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (1 stick or 112g)
1/4teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (210g)
1 vanilla bean, seeds only (I didn't have this so I just doubled up on the extract)
1 large egg white (~33g)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
1 1/3 cups AP flour (160g)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder (~3g)

Procedure
1. With an electric mixer, cream butter, salt, sugar and vanilla seeds until light.

2. Beat in egg white until well incorporated, scraping sides and bottom of mixing bowl to insure that all white has been incorporated.

3. Beat in extract and milk until well incorporated.

4. Whisk together flour and baking powder and add to butter mixture. Mix just to incorporate, scraping down sides and bottom of mixing bowl to insure that all flour has been incorporated.

5. Place by small spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet.

6. Bake at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned. Cool completely before storing. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for at least a week.

Swedish Berry Cream Dessert

This was on a blog I stalk. It sounded good so I made it and liked it. It actually reminded me a lot of the McDonald's fruit and yogurt parfait. Really I'm just posting because I haven't added any recipes in a long, long time, and now that I know a few other people check here, I feel like I need to. What can I say? I've been busy! Plus, the produce co-op has been fairly disappointing lately.

I made Homemade Nilla Wafers to go along with it.

As always, my picture does not do it justice. Is it my counter? I don't know, but I've got to figure out how to make my food look more appetizing on here.


1 envelope Knox gelatin
1/4 c. cold water
2 1/2 c. heavy cream (to save a few calories, I use 1 1/4 c. half an half, 1 1/4 c. heavy cream)
1 c. sugar
2 c. sour cream (I use fat free)
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. fresh berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries -- whatever you love most)

Dissolve gelatin in water.
Heat (do not boil) cream, sugar, and gelatin; stirring gently.
Cool to room temperature.
Fold in sour cream and vanilla.
Pour over berries and chill (you can do individual serving bowls, or a big bowl)
Serves 8

I did not chill long enough before serving and it was runny. The next morning it was much thicker and better. So I don't know how long it has to chill, but certainly more than 2-3 hours.