Deb’s Snickerdoodles

I used to be a fantastic English student in my day.  I had stellar powers of comprehension and understanding…although I couldn’t diagram a sentence to save my life.  {tangent} Do kids today still learn that? {end tangent}  I could expound upon a theme with ease and fair amount of SAT appropriate words.  And I could compare and contrast.  Yes I could.  Although 20+ years later, I can’t exactly recall the kinds of things I was comparing and contrasting, but I know I did it well.

In my present day, non classroom based life, I don’t often find myself handed many opportunities to go all comparey and contrasty.  Sure there are moments of do I like x better than y, but there’s no requirement to dig deeper and go below the obvious.  And as a result, my powers of compare and contrast have diminished.  What was once an automatic response that kicked in and stimulated my rational thinking skills is now more likely to elicit a response of “huh? you want to know what, can’t you see i am in the middle of {insert trashy reality television show here}” rather than a well thought out analysis.

I suppose I should have kept my nose in the books.  If I had, perhaps I could present you with a concise, articulate summary of a tale of two snickerdoodles.  But instead, I chose to rot my brain with trivia and television after college.  So the best I can do is to tell you that if you’re looking for a classic snickerdoodle, this is the recipe you want to try.  The cookies are crisp and delightfully buttery.  They make me override any sense of reason I may have and compel me to keep shoving them in my mouth.  That being said, they are not the only snickerdoodles around.  You want a softer, domed cookie?  Then click here and give these cream cheese snickerdoodles a go.  The cakier cookies are perfect as is or you could layer some ice cream or frosting between two and make a snickerdoodle sammich.

I don’t think that paragraph above would have necessarily gotten me a good mark in English class.  So maybe we can forget about the comparing and contrasting and just get to the baking?  What do you say?

Deb’s Snickerdoodles

Adapted from Martha Stewart, as seen on Smitten Kitchen

BAH Note: I suggest that you make the dough the night before you want to bake the cookies.  Yes, it’s a pain to remember to plan these things but this dough will not go from bowl to oven with a good long time out in the Fridigaire.  If you don’t have that kind of time, give it at least an hour or two in the fridge before rolling and baking.

• 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs

Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.  In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 2 minutes.

Add the eggs and beat until thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Add the flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined.  Cover the top of the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

15 minutes before you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment.  Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the ground cinnamon in a small bowl.  Using a small ice cream disher, scoop out two tablespoons of dough for each cookie, roll the dough into a ball which is then rolled in the cinnamon sugar, and place about two inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the center is just set and starting to crack.  Cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Leftovers, if there are such things, can be stored in an airtight container.

{printable recipe}