Usually when the holidays roll around all hopes of eating well are
cast aside. I can’t help but eat all the delicious treats and home cooked
food that’s in front of me, and I usually eat a lot. This year was no
exception, especially since I was homesick and went a little nuts with all the holiday cooking. Usually I don’t feel too guilty or gross by the end of
December, but this time I did, and I think these devil cookies did it for me.
They were so good that I literally made myself sick eating them (half
batch next time Britt). What’s not to love? A buttery, half chewy half
cakey cookie, rolled in cinnamon and sugar,and it’s called “snickerdoodle”? Um..yes please!
Usually a
snickerdoodle cookie calls for cream of tartar and baking soda. Having
never made these cookies myself, I really wanted to use an original recipe, but
I could not find cream of tartar at any of the expat stores. Desperate to
find an alternative, I of course did a Google search and found these. In
place of cream of tartar and baking soda, this recipe calls for baking powder.
DONE. I was all over these the next day, and the apartment smelled like buttery
cinnamony (which isso a word) heaven. I would like to
try them with the cream of tartar and will definitely do so when I return to America. If you
decide to make these, just be careful. You will want to eat them all.
Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all
purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking
powder
1 cup unsalted
butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups
granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
2 tablespoons
cinnamon
Directions
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking
powder. In a separate bowl, beat the
butter and 1 ½ cups sugar until smooth, about two or three minutes (I did this
by hand as I don’t have an electric mixer here in Beijing *sigh*, but using an electric mixer
would make your life a little easier). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating
well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla
extract. Add the flour mixture and beat
until a smooth dough forms. Cover and
refrigerate for one to two hours, or overnight like I did.
When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 400˚F
and place rack in the center of the oven. If you have parchment paper, use it,
it not there is no need to grease the pan.
Prepare coating mixture by combining remaining ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon
in a shallow bowl.
Shape the dough into 1 inch round balls. Roll the balls of dough
in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on prepared cookie sheet, spaced about
2 inches apart. Then, using a bottom of
a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about ½ inch thick.
Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes, or until they
are light and golden, but firm around the edges. It is better that they are undercooked then
overcooked! The centers of the cookies should be a little soft. Remove from
oven, and let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for five minutes, then
transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I highly recommend trying one
before they’re completely cool. This recipe yielded roughly 3 dozen cookies.
