Snickerdoodles

Several months ago I won a copy of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. It is a wonderful cookbook and I have enjoyed reading through it, but I'm ashamed to admit that I've only just now made one of the recipes in it. Better late than never though, right?!


As a child, snickerdoodles were my favorite cookie. My grandma would always make them at Christmastime and she would freeze extra so that whenever I visited throughout the year there would be some for me. So today when The Princess and I were discussing what kind of cookies to bake my mind wandered back to these.


Now my grandma always used the recipe on the Gold Medal Flour bag--and I have one that she cut off of the bag. But after comparing recipes, I decided to try the one in my new cookbook. It was almost exactly the same, except it calls for all butter and the Gold Medal one called for a combination of butter and shortening (and you know me and my love affair with butter!).


They turned out delicious!! I freely admit to eating several right out of the oven~the kiddos and Vince helped, too!

Snickerdoodles
(The Sweet Melissa Baking Book)

For the dough:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
~~~~~
For the cinnamon/sugar mixture:
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
*******
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs and mix until combined.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined. The dough will be soft and too sticky to roll. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

3. Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. (I didn't do this and it wasn't necessary with my non-stick pans).

4. Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

5. Using a 1-oz. cookie scoop or a tablespoon, shape the dough into balls and roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

6. Place the cookies 2" apart on the cookie sheets. Flatten them slightly with your fingertips so they stay put. Bake for about 12 minutes or until bottoms are slightly golden in color. These cookies are supposed to be chewy so do not overbake. Remove to a wire rack to cool.