Sour or Not?

I had my first call in the PICU last night.  As this is the critical care unit for our hospital, it has the potential to be really busy and to have really sick children.  I was hoping that, being a Sunday, it wouldn't be too busy!  HA!  We didn't sit down until 10pm.  There were 3 admits, one transfer, and we did a total of seven procedures (I did four of them!).  There are several pretty sick kiddos but they stabilized a little bit overnight.  The PICU has a potential to be "sour," but I wouldn't call my experience last night sour.  We were all busy and tired, which led to some tense moments; but everyone worked together well and the right decisions were made at that point.  As to sour food, you would think that something titled "sour" would not be good for use in a sweet treat.  However, that is definitely NOT the case! 

Sour cream is often used in baked goods to add moisture.  This cakes uses it and, quite often, cheesecakes use it as a topping (not my favorite).  Well, I found a recipe for sour cream sugar cookies on Anna's site and made them last month.  I added some toffee to "dress it up" a bit.  They were fantastic.  The texture was just perfect and the taste was light and had a faint tang to it (TOTALLY a good thing!).  I think this recipe could be used as a base for many types of cookies...so try it out!

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies  from Cookie Madness

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup room temperature sour cream (I used Greek Yogurt)
3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Toffee pieces (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F.  In your mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl often and add in the vanilla and almond extract. After creaming the butter and sugar, add the egg and salt and beat just until mixed. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt. 
Stir together the flour, soda, and baking powder in a separate bowl, then add to the batter and stir until mixed. 
Scoop batter up by heaping tablespoons and arrange scoops of dough a couple of inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Sprinkle toffee pieces on top of dough, if desired.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are brown around the edges.  Remove from oven and scoop cookies onto a cooling rack to cool.  Enjoy!