Snickerdoodles

Yesterday around 8:00 AM, I was contemplating when I would have time to bake this weekend. With the plethora of tests I had this coming week, would I have time to bake? But if I didn't bake up something, my blog followers will leave! So, in the spur of the moment and with a grin on my face, I grabbed my mixing bowl, took my butter out of the refrigerator and got to baking. After all, I only had 2 1/2 hrs before I left for class at 10:30 AM so I needed to be quick.

I already planned on making Snickerdoodles so I ran to my computer as fast as I could, typed in "snickerdoodles" into the foodgawker search, found the best looking one and decided to make the recipe. See how "spur of the moment" this was? ha. I then grabbed my laptop, ran to the kitchen and measured out my ingredients in less that 5 min. Fast, huh?

I quickly made the dough and let it chill. While chilling, I went to take a shower. I can't waste any time you know? After my shower, it was time to bake. With the dough slightly chilled and the oven preheating, I scooped out the dough, rolled in cinnamon-sugar, baked them off, cooled them, took pictures and left for class. Now that's what I call fast work! :)

Can you believe that I pulled off these cookies in about a about 2 hrs, starting from cold ingredients? Shocking?! I know... Here's how I did this in about TWO hours.

Tips
-Slice your butter as thin as you can and place them around your mixing bowl. This speeds up the process of getting them to room temp. Should take about 30 min.

-Take your cold eggs and place them into a glass filled with hot tap water. It brings your eggs to room temp. in about 10 minutes.

-While your cold ingredients are coming to room temp, don't waste any time. Go ahead and measure your flours, sugars, leavening, etc. so you can "dump and mix" when ready

-In chilling this dough, I went ahead and placed it in the freezer for about 30 min. Time Saver!

-Preheat your oven after your dough has been in the freezer for 15 min. For your oven to properly be preheated, it takes about 15 minutes anyway.

Results
Taste: Sweetness and 'spiciness' from the outer coating of cinnamon-sugar and a slight tang from the cream of tartar.

Texture: Crunchy yet chewy edges with a soft, cake like center. 

Snickerdoodles
Recipe From Rebel Without A Sauce, adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1¾ cups sugar, plus more if needed (1 1/2 for the dough, 1/4 for the cinnamon sugar)
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
2 large eggs

Directions
-Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1½ cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine.
-Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1-2 hrs

-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
-Use a small (1 1/4-ounce) ice-cream scoop to form balls of the dough
-In a small bowl, combine remaining ¼ cup sugar and the ground cinnamon.
-Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar.

-Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 5 minutes.
-Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

-Aaron John

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