The smell of snickerdoodles baking- one of the best ways to freshen up a kitchen. Snickerdoodles are easy, fun, and always delicious. I'm lucky enough to have the kind of friends who are willing to suffer through (though I quite enjoy it) the baking process with me, helping whenever they can, reminding themselves of the light at the end of the tunnel. One of my best friends, E-, helped me form these sinfully delicious cookies and patiently washed dishes while I zoomed around the kitchen, searching for an ice cream scoop and our cream of tartar, which I bought just for these cookies. Thankfully, I found the ice cream scoop and found more uses for cream of tartar, which I'll be sure to include in my blog later on.
Snickerdoodles
From Smitten Kitchen
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more to roll them in
2 tablespoons (+) ground cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I can only fit one baking sheet of these in my oven at a time, so I left the rack in the center and crossed my fingers. Deb says to place one rack in the bottom third and one rack in the top third of the oven- this would fit more cookies, but I'm unsure if it makes a difference in the taste/cooking speed. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt and set them aside. I do not have a stand mixer (unfortunately), so I did the next part in a bowl with a hand mixer. Combine room temperature butter, cut into small pieces, with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add eggs and beat to combine, scraping the sides as you go. Add the dry ingredients in slowly while beating the mixture and scraping the sides (you'd need three hands for this- ask a friend for help or beat and scrape in intervals). Cover the bowl and pop it in the fridge for an hour, if desired. I made this while waiting for a different recipe to finish in the fridge, so I skipped this step and began scooping right away.Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup (+) sugar and 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (+) together. Form balls of cookie dough and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place each ball about two inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in the center and begin to crack- Deb's took about 10 minutes, whereas mine were were done at about 16 minutes. If you're using two baking sheets, be sure to rotate them halfway through the baking process. Once they've cooled for about 5 minutes, remove them from a baking sheet onto a wire rack to cool. They keep for up to a week, but all 26 of mine were gone by the next evening.
Look at those valleys of cinna-sugar!
