Soft Cinnamon Sugar Snickerdoodles

I have loved cooking and baking since I was young and making cookies at Christmas was something I always looked forward to.  Planning the types of cookies and candies we would make and who would get them was just fun.  My first real cookbook as a teen was The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer.  I still have it today and it is chalk full of notes, tabs, additional recipes I have collected as well as the many stains of recipes past.

If you take a look at the snickerdoodle recipe inside you will see it stated that “snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudel or Crinkly Noodles”. I, myself have no idea about the true history of the snickerdoodle, but I do know that they are more commonly found in the US and Canada. The crinkly top is a signature feature of the cookie as well as the cinnamon sugar coating.

This recipe make a pillowy soft snickerdoodle that just screams Fall to me.  The smell of sugar and cinnamon filling the air as they bake lifts my spirits with the feeling of the holidays approaching. They are so delicious that they barely lasted two days in my house!  And beware! Sometimes I have a hard time waiting for them to cool and they fall apart during transfer from the baking sheet to a plate.  But as Bob Ross would say, it’s a happy accident!  You can just eat them no one needs to know!

Enjoy!

Soft Cinnamon Sugar Snickerdoodles

Time: 20 minutes prep, 20-25 minutes cooking

Yield: 2 Dozen

Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
• 1 Cup Soften Butter
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 3 Cups Flour
• 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Teaspoons Cream of Tartar (See Note Below)
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Procedure

1. In a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon, then set aside.

2. Begin by combining wet ingredients. Whisk together the butter & vanilla until light and fluffy.  Next add the white and brown sugar, mixing well. Then whisk in eggs until well incorporated.

3. Now we will add the dry ingredients.  Add flour, cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.   Stir with a spatula until fully combined.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

4. Prepare baking sheet by lining with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350℉.

5.  Now grab the dough out of the refrigerator and get the cinnamon sugar mixture we set aside earlier.  Take using a spoon (or your hands) take about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball about the size of a pingpong ball.  Then roll the ball around in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.  Place them on the baking sheet leaving 2 inches of space around each ball to allow for spreading.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes until light golden brown.  Remove from the oven let them cool for 10 minutes to allow them to set and then gently transfer to a wire rack or plate.

Tips:

• Note on cream of tartar: If you are like me, I don’t always have cream of tartar laying around(unless its Christmas and I am baking often).  You can substitute baking powder.  For every 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar use 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder, so for this recipe you can use 3 teaspoons of baking powder.  I have never had a problem using this conversion in this recipe.
• If you find that your ingredients are often lumpy you may want to sift the dry ingredients into the bowl.