Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• Course sugar or ground almonds

Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light, about 2
2. minutes. Mix in vanilla and egg. Blend in flour
3. to make a soft dough. Gather it into a ball, flatten slightly, cover
4. with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Lightly grease or spray cookie sheets.
6. Break off a tablespoonful of dough and roll out on the counter, using
7. your hands, to a 9- to 10-inch pencil-size rope. Twist the
8. ends of the rope around each other, then bring the ends down to form a
9. pretzel shape. Set cookie on cookie sheet. Repeat with
10. remaining dough. Refrigerate shaped cookies for 30 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
12. Brush cookies with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar or almonds.
13. Bake in the center of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. They will be
14. firm to the touch and just beginning to color. Let cookies stand
15. for 2 minutes on cookie sheets, then remove to wire racks to cool.