Snickerdoodles

This cookie has some memories for me. The boy I liked in 8th grade broke his leg. He told me his favorite cookies were Snickerdoodles, so I made him some and brought them over to his house. YES, I realize that is probably a strange thing for an 8th grade girl to do, but I have been baking forever and it's what we did when someone was hurt or sick. We brought them food. We took care of them and tried to do something to make them feel better.

I personally didn't care for the way they tasted but he claimed they were good?? That boy and I never made a good couple, were the cookies to blame?? I wasn't sure but I never made Snickerdoodles again.

Flash forward more years than you need to know about and my daughter wanted to bring cookies for her skating show buddies. Couldn't do anything with chocolate, can't have the girls getting messy faces or making their outfits dirty. Couldn't bring anything with a nut product because there could be a child near by that we could send into some kind of allergic fit. My traditional sugar cookies are too much work since I already had cupcakes and birthday cake on the agenda today SO that's how the Snickerdoodles were given another chance.

I remembered what I didn't like about Snickerdoodles the first time around...the taste. The texture was good but it had this taste, this funky flavor that I didn't care for. I have super sensitive taste buds and clearly my buds don't like cream of tartar since everything else is in any other cookie I like, so I decided to leave it out and add another teaspoon of baking powder.

The result...Max said, "Well I know what I want for my birthday" (he doesn't eat cake..yeah, I know..strange kid but we've established that his eating habits aren't normal.) I had to restrict the amount of cookies both he and his sister ate and I never have to do that. I also had to put the lid on the cookie jar and WALK away, something I don't have to typically do either. Yes, they were a hit and SO much easier than traditional sugar cookies. DANGER..yes, these cookies are straight up danger to the diet because you can't eat just one.

1 C Butter softened
2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
2 3/4 C Flour
1/4 t Salt
2 T Baking Powder
1 1/2 C Sugar

Cinnamon/Sugar Mixture
1/2 C Sugar
1 T Cinnamon

Mix together in a bowl or ziploc.

Preheat oven to 375

Mix butter, eggs and vanilla. Add your dry ingredients and mix up (I did it with an old fashioned SPOON, no mixer today). You'll get a soft dough that kind of forms itself into a ball. Roll into balls, about the size of those quarter gum balls. Roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Put on ungreased cookie sheet and press down with your fingers or palm of your hand. Bake for 8-10 minutes. 8 minutes leaves them a bit softer with just the edges lightly browned and crunchy. 10 makes them a little crunchier with just a little soft...my personal favorite. Makes 5 dozen
Here is your butter, eggs and vanilla mixed together.
Add your dry and this is what you get. Kind of forms its own ball. I'm sure if you wanted to use a mixer, it would all be fine but why drag out extra stuff when a spoon does the trick.
Cinnamon and Sugar mixture. I was trying to be green and not use a ziploc. It would have made the job just a bit faster if I had. Just use a bowl that is big enough to either roll them or you to be able to grab and sprinkle because the whole ball needs to be covered.
Roll into balls about the size of those quarter gum balls.
Give them a good roll in the sugar mix.
Press them down with two fingers. Don't squish them, just press them down. Max thought I should use the palm of my hand so people wouldn't know I used my fingers..silly boy..who cares if I used my fingers?!? What he should have said, is that they look prettier. That I agreed with and ended up doing most of the cookies with my palm and not my fingers;)
See I didn't squish the life out of them.
They actually look like they could cook another minute or two but this is them at 8 minutes and they are cooked plenty. My kids preferred 8 over 10 minutes but they ate them either way without complaint.