Vintage Cookies: Snickerdoodles

I know I am supposed to posting more recipes from my big weekend extravaganza of homegrown produce.  But I got distracted by cookie baking.

This happens a lot to me.

I just love baking.  Especially baking cookies.  Cookies are so quick & easy, there are so many varieties, they make the house smell amazing, and they’re one of my favorite comfort foods.  So it doesn’t take much of an excuse to break out the mixing bowl and start making cookies.  The ‘excuse’ this time was a good one – some very good friends have just moved down the road from us and needed a housewarming gift.  One batch of cookies coming up!

Snickerdoodles are a classic American cookie.  They are soft and chewy, with a buttery, vanilla-y cookie and a crisp outside where they’re rolled in cinnamon sugar.   My UK friends were a bit disappointed to learn that despite the name, these cookies do not contain Snickers candy bars … but they managed to eat the entire batch within a day or two anyway!

I found the basic snickerdoodle recipe in my reprint of Betty Crocker’s 1963 classic ‘cooky book’.  This book has special significance for me because both my grandmother and my mother have (much older) copies of this book.  My mother bought me a reprint of this book for Christmas one year, complete with handwritten notes about which recipes are “good” and which are “excellent!!”.

Clearly, we are a cookie crazy family.

Snickerdoodles are great with a cup of tea.  I haven’t had much luck freezing them though, so eat them within a few days.  (Not like these cookies which I like to eat straight from the freezer.)   If you don’t want to make a whole batch, you can freeze some of the dough to  bake later.  Just form a log out of the dough, wrap well in freezer paper and plastic wrap and freeze.

And in case you’re curious, my mother’s notation by the Snickerdoodle recipe in the cookbook is “Very Good”.  Underlined too!  A definite must-bake.

Snickerdoodles

adapted from Betty Crocker Cooky Book (1963)

You need:

1 cup salted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c. white flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tb. white sugar + 2 tsp. cinnamon for coating

How to:

Preheat oven to 400F (200C).

Cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar together until fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well.  Entire mixture should be light and fluffy looking.

Add flour, cream of tartar and baking soda stirring until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl combine 2 Tb. white sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon.

Take a spoonful of dough and roll it between your hands to make a ball.  Roll the ball in the cinnamon sugar until well coated.  Place on a cookie sheet leaving about 2 inches of space between dough balls to allow room to spread.

Bake each cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden and slightly firm to the touch.  The centers of the cookies will puff while cooking, but then flatten out when they are ready.

Eat within 3 days of making for the best flavor!

Makes approximately 36 cookies.