Snickerdoodles

I admit, I was a Facebook holdout, dreading the time it would suck from my life. And, yes, it has… somewhat. But one of the true pleasures of Facebook has been connecting with people who were once very dear to me. One of those people was Kelly, my wonderful friend that kept me sane and happy during middle school and high school.

A couple of days after we reconnected Kelly asked me if I still made snickerdoodles, the cinnamon-sugar cookies that used to be a mainstay in my extremely limited repertoire. I’m not even sure where this recipe came from, although I think it is of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook genre. It was one of my mother’s favorites, and she actually made the cookies with Rosa recently.

In fact, I hadn’t baked snickerdoodles in years. But Kelly’s question made me eager to try the cookies again. I baked them this afternoon, and fresh out of the oven they were divine: meltingly soft, cinnamon-touched, and with a bite from the cream of tartar. Once cool they became crisp on the outside, but still a bit chewy inside, and very good.

Snickerdoodles
Makes about 4 dozen

2 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter at room temperature (two sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

Topping:
2 TB sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 400º.
2. In medium bowl whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs.
4. Blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
5. Stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.
6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the topping mixture.
7. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet, a dozen per sheet.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly golden.
9. Let them cool for five minutes on the baking sheets and then remove the cookies to a rack to cool.

These cookies get hard all too quickly. My mom would put a slice of bread in the container and the cookies would become blissfully soft again.