A Weekend of Baking: Snickerdoodles

Whenever pondering what to do with myself over the weekend, baking always  comes to mind. This can be a good thing– no, this can be a great thing. It can also   be a not so great thing.

I know what you’re thinking– how could an abundance of baked goods ever be a bad thing? Well, 6 dozen cookies and 2 tupperwares full of scones tend to take up a lot of space in our not-so-big kitchen… Not to mention that given the fact that we are a relatively small family, this food usually ends up sitting around for a few days. My parents are generally supportive of my baking endeavors, but when we already have a container of cookie dough in the freezer, they argue that more confections might be too much of a good thing.

BUT I’ve found the solution! I’ve realized that my school friends are always more than able to chomp down on some treats (even at 9 o’clock in the morning!) So now, with friends to feed and, therefore, my parents’ approval, can set to bake to no abandon.

And so this weekend, at my mother’s request, I tried out a new recipe for one of my favorite cookies– snickerdoodles. These were a success, although I ended up with more cookies than I knew what to do with! The recipe is adapted from food.com and can be found here

Makes approx. 6 dozen 2-inch cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.
3. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
4. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.
5. Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge. NOTE: This recipe made a whopping 6 dozen cookies for me, so it might be a good idea to chill several cookie sheets if you have them, or do what I did: I chilled 2 sheets to start with, and, directly after pulling one batch out of the oven and unloading the cookies, I popped the sheet back in the fridge to cool down (so I was essentially switching between 2 sheets).
6. Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Scoop 1 inch globs of dough (I rolled them into balls) into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture. NOTE: This gave me around 6 dozen 2-inch cookies.
8. Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.
9. Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes, or until slightly cracked looking on the top. NOTE: Before baking, I used my fingers to squash the cookies down a little.
10. Remove from pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Soon to come… Buttermilk scones!