Homemade Vanilla Wafers

Update 1/20/2014: Don’t forget to check out a great way to use these Homemade Vanilla Wafers in my Mint Dazzler recipe!

I can remember my mother buying Nilla Wafers when I was a child and wanting to eat the whole box myself.  Now that I’m grown-up, my taste buds have matured and I’ve discovered that Nilla Wafers often leave a funny coating on the roof of my mouth.  I still liked them, but I didn’t buy them very often.

This past weekend, I wanted to make one of my favorite desserts (recipe coming to a blog near you … soon).  The base of the recipe starts will vanilla wafers.  Instead of going out and buying a box, I thought it would be fun for Little Chick and I to try making some from scratch.

I borrowed the original recipe from Frugal Antics where you can read the original recipe and directions.  The directions below are my own.

The ingredients are simple … butter, sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder.  Simple can be wonderful.  Papa claimed them to be “almost too good”, so I had to make sure to make my other dessert quickly before these disappeared.

You mix these up and make several dozen tiny, dime-sized cookies.  I know they are tiny, but believe me you want them that small.  Partially so they don’t take a long time to cook.  But also because they are addictive and that means you can have 4-5 cookies :-).

Little Chick was eye-ing up those little balls but I told her we had to wait until they were baked.   I just rolled out balls for the first pan, but found it worked better to flatten them a little with my fingers before baking.  Otherwise they don’t spread into nice cookie shapes.  However, they taste good either way.

I can blame my daughter for not having a lot of in-progress photos for this one.  Baking with a toddler is tough enough without stopping to take pictures at every step.  But I’d still recommend it.  It’s such a joy to see her learn cooking skills … even how to break an egg properly (sometimes).

Print Recipe

Homemade Vanilla Wafers

Servings: 60 to 75 little cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter 1 stick
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and stir until the flour is incorporated.
• Using a teaspoon to scoop up the dough, roll into tiny little balls – about the width of a dime. Place the cookie balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten the slightly with your fingers.
• Bake at 350°F for approximately 10 minutes. The edges should be lightly browned.