Snickerdoodles

My snickerdoodles are kind of famous within my family. Or is it infamous?

When I was about 14, I’d say, I made a batch of snickerdoodles using my mom’s recipe. It’s one of the first clear memories I have of baking something completely by myself (although I’m sure I had done it before). It went off without a hitch, or so I thought.

I made the cookies, baked them until they were perfectly golden and beautiful. Then we all grabbed one to taste. Oh sweet fancy Moses, what the heck was wrong with these cookies?!

I went through the recipe again to see what I’d done- chili powder. Turns out, did you know that McCormick’s chili powder and McCormick’s cinnamon looked very much the same back in the day?

I’ve shied away from making Snickerdoodles since, sparing a few times with my mom when Brian and I were first dating (he LOVED snickerdoodles). He’s never once asked me to make them myself though. When I announced this weekend that I was trying a snickerdoodle recipe Brian visibly blanched and protested. “No! No I don’t want snickerdoodles. Make something else. Make… make your chocolate chip cookies!” He wasn’t even around for the Chili-doodle incident and he fears them.

Thankfully these came off perfectly, exactly what I was looking for. I’ll be making them again and again, as soon as I move the chili powder.

Snickerdoodles
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Makes about 18 cookies

Ingredients:
2 ¾ C all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. coarse salt
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ C plus 2 T sugar
2 large eggs
2 t. cinnamon

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheet s with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in the eggs.

Slowly add the flour mixture in with the mixer on low speed.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Scoop the cookie dough into 1 ¾-inch balls and roll them in the cinnamon-sugar. Place dough balls about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheets as they’ll spread a bit during baking.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating half-way through, until the cookies are golden browned. Remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Source: Martha Stewart’s Cookies , pg. 82