~ My Favorite Sugar Cookie is: The Snickerdoodle ~

Today is a preheat the oven kinda day in my kitchen.  We're having a cold snap here in Central PA:  frost warnings and 30-40- degree temperatures in mid-May -- what's up with that?  Don't ask me why, but while I was clutching my steaming hot cup of coffee this morning, snickerdoodles popped into my foodie head.  I haven't posted a cookie recipe in quite a while, and, if the weather isn't going to cooperate, I'm declaring it "three cookies-of-my-youth week" on KE.

Nothing's ever as good as it was when you were a kid:

What in the wide world of cookie sports is a snickerdoodle?

A bit about the snickerdoodle:  A traditional snickerdoodle is a flat, golden, crispy on the outside, slightly-chewy on the inside, sugar cookie made with butter and shortening, then dusted with cinnamon and sugar prior to baking.  It doesn't contain chocolate or white chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, other embellishments or flavorings. Spare me any recipes that attempt to make this cookie gourmet.  As for its quirky name:  according to Wikipedia, it is believed they are German in origin and evolved from the German word "Schnickennudeln", which is a cinnamon-dusted sweet roll. Other tales about how they got named exist, but, this particular one seems right to me.  Why?

A bit about me and snickerdoodles:  I grew up in the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania, often called "Pennsylvania Dutch country".  I was told that snickerdoodles were Pennsylvania Dutch sugar cookies.  I'm here to make it clear that Pennsylvania Dutch cookery does not belong solely to PA and it is not Dutch either.  The term "Dutch" is slang for the German word "Deutsch", so: when we say Pennsylvania Dutch, we mean Pennsylvania Deutsch and are crediting the Germanic or German-speaking people for this delicious cuisine (and these cookies).

At the age of 19, I ate the best snickerdoodles I ever tasted, made by my fiance's grandmother, "Nana".  Nana was my son Jesse's paternal great-grandmother and my grandson David's great-great grandmother.  It just so happens, Nana and her husband, Pap-Pap, were Pennsylvania Dutch.  My recipe is Nana's recipe and it came straight out of Betty Crocker's Cookbook.  This is the first cookbook I ever owned.  It's the 1972 edition and 16th printing of the book.  It was given to me as a bridal shower gift from Nana in 1974. Pages 144 & 145 were marked and three recipes underlined: Gingersnaps, Snickerdoodles & Peanut Butter Cookies.

I hope you're having fun, because I sure am!

1/2  cup salted butter, at room temperature, very soft

1/2  cup butter-flavored shortening, at room temperature

1 1/2  cups sugar

2  large eggs, at room temperature

2 1/4  cups, unbleached all-purpose flour

2  teaspoons cream of tartar

1  teaspoon baking soda

1/4  teaspoon salt

2  tablespoons ground cinnamon

4  tablespoons additional sugar

~ Step 1.  In a large mixing bowl, place the butter, shortening, sugar and eggs.  

~ Step 2.  On medium-high speed of hand-held electric mixer, thoroughly combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a large rubber spatula as you work, until smooth, about 1 minute.

                                           ~ Step 3. Lower the mixer speed and blend in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  

~ Step 4.  In a shallow bowl, mix together the cinnamon and additional sugar.

~ Step 5.  Line 4, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans with parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2" ice-cream scoop as a measure, scoop out some dough, gently drop it into and coat it with the cinnamon-sugar, while at the same time forming it into a 1 1/4" ball.   Place balls, well-apart, 12 on each prepared pan.   

Note:  Don't have 4 pans?  Reuse the pans and bake as directed, but pans must be completely cool and the parchment replaced, before placing cookie dough on them.

~ Step 6. Bake, one pan at a time, on center rack of preheated 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are set and look "crackly" on top. Watch very carefully after 7 minutes.

~ Step 7.  Remove from oven and allow to cool, in pan, about 2 minutes.  Using a thin spatula, transfer cookies to cooling racks to cool completely.  Stack and store in an air-tight container.

My Favorite Sugar Cookie is:  The Snickerdoodle:  Recipe yields 4 dozen, 3"-round cookies.

Special Equipment List:  hand-held electric mixer; large rubber spatula; 4, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans; parchment paper; 1 1/2" ice-cream scoop; 2-4  large cooling racks; thin spatula

Cook's Note: Nana gave me another bridal shower gift too:  this baking pan, spatula, measuring cups, spoons and a handwritten copy of ~Nana's Applesauce-Oatmeal-Raisin-Walnut Cake ~, taped to the bottom of the pan.  You can find the recipe in Category 6.

I truly do come from a foodie family.

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2013)

Related articles

~ My Favorite Spice-y Cookie is: The Ginger Snap ~

~My Favorite Salty Cookie is: Chunky Peanut Butter~

~ Three Cookies of Mel's Youth Week -- In Review ~

Comments

[KitchenEncounters]

Tiffany -- Welcome to my Kitchen! I love Bob's Red Mill products and thank you for that information. I don't cook gluten-free but several of my readers do, so I will use it as a recommendation when asked. If you ever have any special requests or have a question to ask, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail -- I answer them all. I posted a bunch of pudding recipes last week because of a question from a reader!

[Tiffany]

Just recently discovered your website because I was looking for the correct way to fry thin cut bone in pork chops and you had the directions. The pork chops came out great and now I only fry them the way you described. Thanks so much as I almost gave up on frying a good thin pork chop! Now I've found your Snickerdoodle recipe and am in heaven as it is my favorite cookie as well. Plan on making it gluten free using Bob's Red Mill 1 To 1 Gluten Free Flour which is the very best on the market and subs 1 to 1 for regular flour.