Saturday, March 28, 2009

[Cookie 007] Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles

Well good news: I got my A-game back!! I didn't fail with this recipe! But let's get to it....

So, Snickerdoodles--a classic right? Truth be told, before this batch of Snickerdoodles, I wasn't much of a fan. I hadn't had a Snickerdoodle in years, and etched in my memory was some sort of crackly, blackened and burnt cookie that didn't have much flavor or intrigue. No chocolate?! Not fruity either?! Where's all the gooeyness/nuttiness/powdered sugar/general craziness?? But, it was my friend Thea's birthday last week, so of course it was her turn to choose this week's cookie recipe. She actually just wanted any soft and chewy cookie, but we all know that she likes sugar more than a hyperactive 7 year old on Halloween, so it came down to either Martha's Sugar Cookies or Snickerdoodles, and I had only ingredients for the latter.

Snickerdoodles, not burnt!

So I got to baking. The recipe, obviously, is one of the easiest and fastest cookie recipes you can come across (unless all you have is 1 frozen stick of butter that refuses to thaw--my situation). But I managed to turn out two lovely batches, none of which were at all burnt! Not even the bottoms, which were perfectly golden! And let me just say, these cookies were so soft, too.

Various Stages of the Great Snickerdoodle Transport
Cookies, in various stages of baking and transportation to the birthday girl

But what say my favorite critics? The crew I feed my weekly cookies to every week (so I can fatten them up and eat them later)? My friends' responses were only of the highest praise; these are really the epitome of Snickerdoodles. Now I understand why these cookies have become such a classic: a super easy recipe that yields great results! Simply tasty, really easy and fun to make, and you most likely have all the ingredients already floating around your pantry. Perfect for a last-minute gift to bring to a party, or to make with kids/friends/enemies/the elderly/yourself.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles
Makes 1 1/2 dozen
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons (divided)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
  2. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into twenty 1 3/4-inch balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
  3. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days (but you'll devour them in under 3 hours).
****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 1/5
Ingredient Accessibility: 5/5
Tastiness: 3.5/5 (I still think that, flavor-wise, they are a little boring--but the texture makes up for it)
Attractiveness: 3/5 (Nothing that great to look at--not ugly, but not pretty)
Is it worth it?: Definitely. You want to make an easy recipe with ingredients that you probably already have lying around? This is it!

15 comments:

Erin said...

Oooh, thanks for trying this recipe. I haven't gotten to it yet with my copy of the book, but it is high up on the list of cookies I want to make. So far my favorites are the Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk & White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies. And I just made her sugar cookies this past week!

Your Snickerdoodles look great and I can't wait to get to this recipe too!

Anonymous said...

Try adding a touch of cream of tartar. I thought this was a prerequisite for Snickerdoodles, but I haven't seen it any of the recipes lately...

Lizzie said...

Yeah, the recipe that is on the Martha Stewart website includes cream of tartar, but this one didn't. But the results were great; maybe I'll add it when I try them again!

Mouse said...

I just made these cookies-- AMAZING! Thanks for the recipe! Didn't miss the cream of tartar at all :)

Lauren said...

Oh, finally, a recipe for snickerdoodles NOT involving Cream of Tartar. I'll be making this straight away. Thanks for posting!

Coco Bean said...

Oh, I saw your picture on Tastespotting and recognized the book right away! As Erin said, I haven't gotten to these yet but will soon and my favorite is also the Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk cookies.

Coco Bean said...

OK, this is really creepy. I was going to ask you if you would be interested in some sort of "cooking the book" idea because I love this cookie book. Like LOOOVE it. But, I see that you are already doing that... soo.... would you consider maybe making or joining a cook the cookie book? Just an idea.

Sneh said...

Looks Brilliant! I love your photo perspective .. very cute :-)

Anonymous said...

i'm confused...the top of the recipe says makes 4 dozen, but the instructions say to shape the dough in to 20 balls...so how many cookies did you end up with?

Lizzie said...

keen eye you have! my mistake--it is supposed to yield roughly 1.5 dozen cookies, but I came about with a little more than that. thanks for pointing this out!

Alexis said...

I LOVE Martha's snickerdoodles recipe. Other recipes, like Betty Crocker snickerdoodles, can sometimes come out eggy and odd tasting. But these are SO perfect--one of my favorite cookies, and one of my favorite doughs to eat raw! I recommend sneaking in a little dash of vanilla to make them extra delicious

Alexis said...

Oh and @ the cream of tartar thing... baking powder is basically cream of tartar and baking soda. So her website's version has you use baking soda and cream of tartar, and her book version just has you use baking powder. It gets the same effect.

Lizzie said...

DothNotWisdomCryOut- oo i love that vanilla tip! i'll definitely give that a try next time! and thanks for the info on the cream of tartar issue; i always wondered about that.

Unknown said...

My reference recipe has 1 tsp in the dough; the "powdering mix" includes 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1 tbsp vanilla sugar. I think the nutmeg adds a lot.

Nakiya @ Taste of Baltimore said...

Making these right now - they are sooo yummy!!! Thanks so much :)