Snickerdoodles

A sugar cookie filled with cinnamon – what could be better with a hot cup of breakfast tea?  Cinnamon is one of the medicinal spices found in my cabinet.  But I am pretty sure all the sugar and butter negate those qualities.  This is dessert, enjoy responsibly!

As one of those mothers who calls her children every name but their given – Maggie is the proud receiver of the nickname “Snickerdoo”.   While in college, cookies are a quick and easy treat to slip in the mail and let her know I was thinking about her.  Tail waggin’ across the miles!  To keep it real means this didn’t happen as often as she, or her housemates, would have liked.

Cookie Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients Sugar Coating

• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425/F and gather equipment; Large and small mixing bowls, soup bowl or rimmed plate, fork, dry measures, measuring spoons, mug or bowl, cookie sheets, wire racks, thin linen towel, small sauce pan, heat resistant spatula, large wooden spoon, hot pads and trivet.

Set out heat resistant trivet and enough wire racks for 3 dozen cookies.   After taking a sheet from the oven, remove cookies within 1 minute so they do not continue to bake.  Unless of course, you want a crisp cookie for dunking into your tea.  We prefer these cookies soft and chewy.

In small sauce pan, melt butter on low heat, stirring often.  We do not want “brown” butter, just melt, then remove from heat and allow to cool.  Otherwise you will scrabble the eggs in your cookie batter.  Do not put in fridge to cool or it will harden back up.

Crack the eggs into a mug or bowl and slightly beat; set aside.

In soup bowl or on rimmed plate, toss with fork the ingredients for the sugar coating.  Set the bowl with fork aside for coating the cookie dough.

In small mixing bowl, measure out the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Baking powder should be fresh, no more than 6 months old if opened.  Your cookies will be flat and hard if the baking powder is old.  Cinnamon is fat soluble so where you add it in the mix will determine how visible it will be in your cookie.  I add cinnamon and nutmeg to my sugars so the fat in the butter will begin to dissolve it.  Maggie adds cinnamon to the flours so the specks of cinnamon are suspended in the batter.  Your choice!

In large mixing bowl, mix the granulated white sugar, dark brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg.  Add the melted butter and stir well until sugars have been thoroughly incorporated into the batter.  Add the beaten eggs and mix thoroughly.  Add the dry flour mix, folding into the batter.  Set aside to rest, approximately 10-15 minutes.

While the cookie dough is resting – prep your work space!

Prepare cookies sheets – with nothing!  Make sure they are clean and dry.  We have heavier sheets dedicated just for making cookies.  These sheets hold the heat, prep your work space so that you have enough room to set the hot pan next to the cooling rack.  You will want to remove the cookies from the pan soon after removing from the oven  (about 1 minute).

We use 3 to 4 cookie sheets so we are not putting cookie dough onto a hot sheet.  We like to have a cookie sheet ready to put into the oven as we take one out.  This helps to keep the oven temperature more consistent as cookies are only in there for a short time.

Using a tablespoon or dough scoop, make a 1 1/2″ (one and a half inch) cookie dough ball and roll in the cinnamon sugar topping.  Place on cookie sheet, flatten slightly if needed.  With the oven on, my kitchen is rather warm so the dough is soft and doesn’t hold a firm ball shape.   I simply let the dough roll off my hand and it self flattens when it hits the cookie sheet!

Bake for exactly 7 minutes.  At least if you are baking in my kitchen.  =)  Adjust time as needed for a cookie that has spread out, with proper rise, sides appear done but top appears real soft.  If you want a crisper cookie, let it rest on the pan to continue to bake on the residual heat.  Otherwise, let them rest for 1 minute then remove to cooling rack.

Snickerdoodles are the perfect match for a cup of breakfast tea, coffee, or a mug of cold milk.