I’m going to start a feature called Friday Favorites. I’ll be posting some of my old recipes and posts on Fridays. O.K. basically it’s reruns. But maybe it’s new to you! Maybe you didn’t know who I was back when I posted my Snickerdoodle tutorial the first time. It was years ago. Here’s your second chance to learn how to make them!
Cookies are my thing. I can do cakes pretty well, and my pies are decent too. But cookies are where it’s at for me. I love the relative ease of cookies. Some are complicated, but most are a two-bowl affair that can be in the oven in less than fifteen minutes. They’re quick to bake and rarely is decoration involved. It’s almost always faster to make a batch of cookies than it is to drive to the store to buy some; which is why it shocks me that people actually pay money for store-bought cookies (although I do love Oreos. And Nutter Butters. Those tiny round ones.)
When it comes to making cookies, I like to have the perfect recipe. I don’t want to experiment or tinker with ingredients. I want to know exactly what to do, end of story.
Everyone, including me, needs snickerdoodles in their cookie repertoire. Can you believe that I never even had a snickerdoodle until we made them in Home Ec in 6th grade? Outrageous! But I took one bite of a snickerdoodle–the crispy cinnamony exterior yielding to the soft yet toothsome inside. Not to mention the sweet tinged with a smidgen of tanginess–I was seriously hooked.
I’ve been making these cookies ever since. But I just wasn’t happy with any recipe I tried. Even Cook’s Illustrated, which normally does me right, has a lousy recipe. This is the problem: snickerdoodles taste much better with butter. But butter makes a cookie too flat a lot of the time. And in Jennie’s Cookie Universe flat cookies are a gigantic no-no. I think they are the sign of either a poor recipe or a sloppy baker. If you buy a snickerdoodle at a bakery they are usually nice and thick, but the reason is because they are made entirely with shortening which holds its shape better. Ew. Even butter-flavored shortening is gross, if you ask me.
I was left with no other option than to make up my own recipe. I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that creating a new recipe drives me a little batty. It’s more science than my feeble brain can handle. Not to mention frustrating. But I finally achieved success.
Bless you! 🙂
My husband and I are on a no sugar dealio until Thanksgiving. And I am hungry right now so I pretty much hate you.
Love,
Wendy
I do crave the Snickerdoodles fornightly, but I have never managed to remember to buy cream of tarter since you first created this recipe, years ago. Sad, huh? so as of yet I have never made them. You want to know who has the perfect snickerdoodle to buy? Einsteins bagels. Seriously, if you ever pass an Einstiens, go in and see if they happen to have made any that day. You’ll die for them.
Arianne, does this recipe compare to the Einstein Bros. Snickerdoodle? Let me know because I’m OBSESSED with those and these will probably cost less.
The best way to find out is to try them! Let me know if they’re as good.
This is very true.
Just pulled these out of the oven. They are delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Delicious but not as puffy as your pictured cookies??