Snickerdoodle Recipe

By Danilo Alfaro

culinaryarts.about.com

Snickerdooodles.

Photo © Wen Tong Neo / Flickr

Snickerdoodle Recipe

The perfect snickerdoodle is slightly soft and chewy with a generous dusting of cinnamon sugar on top. We use a the bottom of a glass to flatten and shape the cookies.

To achieve the classic snickerdoodle chewiness, you want to mix just enough to combine the ingredients. Also, it's a good idea to let the butter, egg and milk come to room temperature before creaming them.

Also see: Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• ½ lb unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2½ tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 large egg
• 2¾ cups pastry flour, or 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• ½ tsp salt (table salt, not Kosher salt)
•  
• For the cinnamon sugar:
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
    
2. Prepare your baking sheet pan by greasing it with butter or shortening or lining it with parchment paper. Or use a silicone baking mat, which is my favorite technique.
    
3. Let the butter, milk and egg come to room temperature before you begin.
    
4. Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugars, salt and the 2½ teaspoons cinnamon on low speed. It's important to mix only until the ingredients are combined. If you mix too long, you'll incorporate too much air and the cookies won't be chewy.
    
5. Add the egg and milk and mix until blended.


6. Add the flour to wet ingredients and mix until they're combined.


7. Chill the dough for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the cinnamon sugar: Combine the ¼ cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a bowl and mix until blended.
    
8. Scoop out 1 oz balls of dough, roll them in the cinnamon sugar and arrange them on your sheet pan with about 2 inches between each cookie so that they have plenty of room to spread.


9. Use something flat like the bottom of a glass to flatten the cookies onto the pan. If the glass sticks, you can dip it in cinnamon sugar between each cookie.


10. Bake for around 10 minutes or until the edges and bottoms of the cookies are beginning to look golden brown.


11. When the snickerdoodles are cool enough to handle but still warm, remove them from the pan and cool them on a wire rack. You can eat them as soon as they're cool enough that they won't burn your mouth. Or if you'll be storing them, make sure they've cooled thoroughly first.

Makes about 30 cookies. You can prepare the dough through step 6 and freeze some or all of it for later. Just roll it into a tube and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Later you can simply unwrap the tube, cut the frozen dough into single-cookie slices and bake normally.