Here it is...the final recipe of 2009!
I've got to thank René, my fellow workplace foodie, for inspiring this cookie. He gave me one of those recipe-a-day box calendars for Christmas, and a recipe for snickerdoodles was on the the first page.
I've never (knowingly) had a snickerdoodle before. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed after reading the calendar's recipe to learn that the cookie was not remotely related to a Snickers candy bar. No peanuts, no chocolate, no caramel, no nougat. Nope...none of that stuff.
To put it plainly, a snickerdoodle is a sugar cookie with a few twists. Twist #1: Cream of tartar is used as the leavening agent. (I don't really know why. I've done some research, but nothing really says that the cream of tartar is an absolute must. I think it would be fine to use 1/2 teaspoon in total of baking soda if you didn't have or didn't want to use the cream of tartar in this recipe.) Twist #2: The dough balls are rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking.
Okeydokey. Seems easy enough. I took the calendar's tip about the cream of tartar and ran with it.
I don't know about you, but I don't want just a whiff or a hint of cinnamon in my cookies. I want to taste the cinnamon. So I set out to make a snickerdoodle that nobody would mistake for a speckled sugar cookie. In my recipe, there's cinnamon in the creambles, wet ingredients, and coating.
I also decided to use both white sugar and light brown sugar so that these cookies would be crispy and chewy and have just the right amount of sweetness.
And, of course, I used finely ground oatmeal in my dry ingredients. How many other snickerdoodles can make that claim?
After rolling the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar, I decided to smoosh them with a fork a little to flatten them before baking and to give them a nice little finishing touch.
Makes 2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Oatmeal Snickerdoodles.)
Creamables
|
1 stick butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon |
Wet Ingredients
|
1 egg
2 tablespons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla |
Dry Ingredients |
1 1/4 cups finely ground oatmeal
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt |
Coating |
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon |
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
- In
another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula,
fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients
to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
- In another small bowl, mix the coating ingredients together.
- Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
- Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar coating.
- Place the sugared dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
- Using a fork, smoosh the dough balls down a little to flatten them.
- Bake at 350º for
10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the
oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to
cool.
