The humble snickerdoodle is my all-time favorite sugar cookie. I've been told it was the first cookie I was ever allowed to taste, so, if my mind hasn't changed by now, it is not likely to happen. A traditional snickerdoodle is a flat, pale-to-golden, crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside cookie made with butter and/or shortening, and, cinnamon and/or nutmeg . It never (don't go there with this cookie) contains additions like chocolate chips, dried fruit or nuts. If flavoring is added, it is always a simple and subtle splash of vanilla. That said, snickerdoodles are the perfect foil for eggnog or eggnog flavoring, and, a splash of rum or butter-rum is delightful too.
Snickerdoodles are German and evolved from "Schnickennudeln", a cinnamon-dusted sweet roll. I grew up in the Lehigh Valley region of PA, known as "Pennsylvania Dutch Country". I'm here to say: Pennsylvania Dutch cookery does not belong to PA and it isn't Dutch either. "Dutch" was the slang word for "Deutsch", so, when people say PA Dutch, they mean PA Deutsch, crediting the many German-speaking peoples for this cuisine.
Eggnog means "eggs in a small cup" & used on both sides of the Atlantic to toast to health. "Nog" is an English term for a wooden cup.
References to eggnog date back to the 1800's, when, even back then it was served during the Winter holiday season. Known as "egg milk punch", it was and still is a sweetened dairy-based beverage made with milk, sugar, raw egg yolks, whipped egg whites and a splash of rum and/or vanilla extract. Nowadays cream is always included in place of some or all of the milk, because today's milk has a much lower fat content than milk in the 1800's, which had cream on top. Brandy, rum and/or bourbon are almost always added. The plain truth: Eggnog tastes better with alcohol in it. Each finished serving is poured into a punch cup, then it's topped off with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of nutmeg.
Eggnog means "eggs in a small cup", and it is used on both sides of the Atlantic to toast to health. "Nog" is an old English term for a small wooden cup. As an English creation, it descended from the hot British drink, posset, made from eggs beaten with milk, sugar and some type of spirit. During that period, alcoholic drinks were served at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Because it was cooked, posset traveled and adapted well to local tastes wherever it landed. One such place: our American colonies -- full of farms, chickens, cows and cheap rum (our signature ingredient).
Where I grew up, snickerdoodles were served year-round, including the holidays, almost everywhere we went:
For the dry ingredients:
4 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
For the wet ingredients:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup high-quality, store-bought, pasteurized eggnog
1 teaspoon eggnog flavoring
1 teaspoon butter-rum flavoring
1 cup salted butter, at room temperature, very soft (2 sticks)
2 1/4 cups sugar
For sprinkling on the batter-balls:
1-2 tablespoons store-bought cinnamon-sugar
~Step 1. In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients: the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and sea salt. Set aside. In a 1-cup measuring container, use a fork to lightly-whisk the eggs, add enough eggnog to total 1 cup, then stir in the eggnog- and butter-rum flavorings. Set aside. In a large bowl, place the butter and sugar. Set aside. Line 4, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans with parchment and ready a hand-held electric mixer, large rubber spatula, 1 1/2" cookie scoop and a thin spatula.
~Step 2. On medium- medium-high speed of hand-held electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a large rubber spatula, about 1-1 1/2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed, and, in a thin stream, incorporate the egg/eggnog mixture. Continuing at low speed, in two or three increments, incorporate the flour mixture until a sticky but manageable cookie batter forms, about 1-1 1/2 minutes.
~Step 3. Using a 1 1/2" cookie scoop, gently drop balls of dough, well-apart, 15 on the first prepared pan. Lightly sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar. Bake on center rack of preheated 350º oven 8-10 minutes, or until cookies have puffed through to their centers, look "crackly", and, have just started to deflate a bit. Watch very carefully after 7 minutes of baking time. Eight minutes will render a pale chewier cookie, 10 minutes a golden, crunchier cookie -- bake to suit yourself. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool, in pan for 1 minute. Use a thin spatula to transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat process, using the remaining three pans and working assembly-line-style, until all cookies are baked and cooled.
Note: Dont have 4 baking pans? Reuse the pans you've got and bake as directed, but pans must be completely cool and lined with fresh parchment before placing unbaked balls of cookie dough on them. Warm pans and/or reused parchment will compromise the end result.
8 minutes = pale & chewier. 10 minutes = golden & crunchier.
Place a plate of eggnog snickerdoodles & some eggnog next to the tree on Christmas Eve before you go to bed:
Word on the street is: Santa loves snickerdoodles & eggnog!
Home for the Holiday Eggnog-Laced Snickerdoodles: Recipe yields 5-5 1/2 dozen, 2 1/2"-round cookies.
Special Equipment List: spoon; 1-cup measuring container; fork; 4, 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pans; parchment paper; hand-held electric mixer, large rubber spatula, 1 1/2" ice-cream/cookie scoop; thin spatula; large wire cooling rack
Cook's Note: The best place to buy the best pasteurized eggnog is at your local dairy, and, I'm thrilled that our community's Meyer Dairy makes creamy-dreamy eggnog that is full of flavor and not cloyingly sweet -- they make eggnog ice cream that's just as good too. For one of my more recent cookie creations, an eggnog-laced cake-like cookie glazed with eggnog frosting, try my recipe for ~ Mel's Happy-Valley Meyer-Dairy Eggnog Cookies ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2024)
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