It’s official!   I’m declaring July 5th Snickerdoodle Sunday!  Well…not really, but it’s a catchy title, no?

While perusing cookie blogs this weekend, I found one entitled lovin from the oven.  Kim, owner of said blog, had some very cute pics of Snickerdoodles on her site.  Now, I’m not a huge fan of Snickerdoodles, but I certainly wouldn’t turn one down-know what I’m saying?  Plus, quite a few of my friends request that I add them to my ever-expanding repertoire.  So…here goes.

Kim’s Snickerdoodle Recipe

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Except for halving the recipe, I followed it to the letter.  The results were mixed.  The first set I baked came from room-temperature dough.  This cookie spreads like crazy which bothers me to no end.  As far as aesthetics, it was a bit darker than I like, but that’s my fault.  I baked them on a rack set one level above the middle.  That’s not good when you’re setting the oven to 400 degrees.

Since the first batch was flat, I decided to refrigerate the dough and bake some up the next day.  Smart choice.  In my opinion, this dough needs to be cold when baked.  It will puff up nicely and keep the expansion to a minimum.  Otherwise, it will stretch to the size of a saucer-and nobody wants that, right?

The Results

Flavor:  I like the fact Kim uses mostly brown sugar in this recipe.  It keeps the cookie moist.  Something is definitely missing, though.  Perhaps, I should delete the vanilla.  It cuts into the tang of the cream of tartar.

Aesthetic:  Baked up beautifully with the cold dough.  Although, I might have to do something about the sugar to cinnamon ratio.  My preference leans toward the lighter side when it comes to cookies.  Next time, I will bake on the middle rack.

Texture: The cookie was a little wet in the middle due to a shorter baking time.  In any case, I should’ve waited until the cookie was completely cooled.  Sorry…warm cookie alert.

Overall: This cookie isn’t great, but it’s a great place to start.