Soft and Sugary Snickerdoodles
It's a Snickerdoodle time of year. As the weather gets cooler and we move into full-fledged fall, these sugary cinnamon cookies are just what your taste buds ordered.
Growing up, Snickerdoodles were one of my moms favorite cookies so she made them all the time. I had a craving for them over the weekend so I pulled out her old recipe and threw together a batch.
They turned out just as I had remembered ... soft and chewy with a cinnamon sugar crust. Impossible to resist.
The key to baking these cloud-like cookies (and maybe any cookies) is not to over bake them. These cookies should not brown in the oven. You need to take them out just BEFORE they look completely "done." They will set up as they cool.
Snickerdoodlesmakes 3 dozen 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 Tablespoons sugar
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fixed with a paddle attachment, combine the butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix thoroughly until well combined, 1 to 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add flour mixture to shortening mixture and turn mixer on a low speed until just combined. In a small bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon.
Using a cookie scoop, shape the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (1 tablespoon per ball), and roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar. Arrange the dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake until the edges of the cookies are set but the centers are still soft, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through (do not over bake—cookie tops should NOT brown). Transfer the cookies to wire racks for cooling. Repeat with the remaining dough balls.