"Snickerdoodle Recipe" by Kati E.

 

Snickerdoodle Recipe

 

Hi everyone! Today I am going to teach you how to make snickerdoodles the way my family has been making them since before I was born. This is one of my favorite treats to bake simply because the dough tastes good and it is fun to roll the dough into balls. The difference between a snickerdoodle and a regular sugar cookie is the snickerdoodle has cream of tartar which gives the cookie a slight tangy flavor to offset the sweetness. The cream of tartar also gives the cookies their signature cracks on top. My favorite time to eat them are when they are fresh out of the oven.

 

Every Christmas since before I could remember, my family would get together and we would all help to make snickerdoodles for our other family members, friends, and neighbors. Before covid, my family was rarely in the same room since my two older brothers go to college and my sister and I had extracurricular activities. No matter how busy our schedules were, we would all find time during winter break to make snickerdoodles together. So not only do the cookies taste amazing, but they bring back good memories as well.

 

Ingredients: Dough

 

●      1 Cup of Shortening

 

●      1 ½ Cups of Sugar

 

●      2 eggs

 

●      1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

 

●      2 ¾ cups of flour

 

●      2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

 

●      1 teaspoon of baking soda

 

●      ½ teaspoon of salt

 

Ingredients: Cinnamon Sugar Mixture

 

●      2 teaspoons of sugar

 

●      2 teaspoons of cinnamon

 

Tools:

 

●      A large mixing bowl

 

●      A stand mixer with flat beater attachment or spoon/baking spatula

 

●      Measuring cup

 

●      Teaspoon

 

●      Baking tray

 

●      Aluminum foil or parchment paper

 

Instructions for Dough:

 

1.     Add 1 cup of shortening to the bowl and mix until it is a creamy consistency

 

2.     Add 1 ½ cups of sugar to the shortening and mix until fully combined

 

3.     Once the sugar is fully combined, add one egg at a time and mix in between to make sure all parts of the egg are fully incorporated

4.     Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix until it has a light and fluffy consistency

5.     Add all dry ingredients (2 ¾ cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, ½ teaspoon of salt) and mix until fully incorporated. *Start mixer on low to ensure the dry ingredients don’t go outside of the bowl. Also watch out for clumps of flour

6.     Let the dough chill in the fridge for about an hour to make sure the dough adheres to itself and doesn’t crumble when you go to roll it into balls

7.     Prepare baking trays with parchment paper or aluminum foil to make clean up easier and to make sure the cookies don’t stick to the tray

 

8.     Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of cinnamon in a separate dish to roll the balls in

 

9.     Take the dough out of the fridge and start rolling it into balls about an inch wide

 

10.  Roll the dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture until fully covered and place 10-12 evenly spaced dough balls on each tray

 

11.  When you put the dough on the tray, lightly press on the top so it doesn’t puff up too much in the oven

 

12.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the cookies for 8 minutes

 

*depending on your oven, you made need to cook them for an extra minute or two

 

13.  The cookies should come out a light brown color with a light brown bottom and they should have little cracks in the top. Check the bottom of the cookies to see how baked they are.

 

14.  Place the cookies on a cooling tray because the cookies continue to bake even after they come out of the oven.

 

15.  Once cooled, put them in a Tupperware container to keep the cookies soft

 

*Tip: if the cookies aren’t as soft as you would like them to be, you can heat them up in the microwave to make them warm and soft again.