Snickerdoodles

DAY FIVE! We made it, you guys!

Quite literally… thank goodness it’s Friday, amiright?! Did anyone else have a strange and oddly stressful week?

Luckily I have a house full of cookies, which helps! AND there’s nearly a foot of snow outside, so all around it feels like a winning situation. It is the perfect weekend to stay cozy inside, bake (more) cookies, write out Christmas cards and watch allll the Christmas movies (or just The Grinch on repeat!).

Today’s cookie is another classic I’ve refused to make for years — snickerdoodles! Actually, I’m not sure that I’ve EVER made them, now that I think about it…

Snickerdoodles always seemed so.. overrated. They aren’t quite sugar cookies, and have a strange tangy flavor. What even are they?! I’m not sure what prompted me to try and make them this year, but BOY am I glad I did!

I searched high and low for a gluten-free snickerdoodle recipe that didn’t have any weird ingredients. And yet, every recipe seemed to call for cream of tarter — which I obviously didn’t have on hand.

What gives?

But as I looked into it more, it seems cream of tarter is actually what gives snickerdoodles the tangy flavor and chewy texture that they’re know for. Go figure! So I made sure to pick some up the next time I was at Stop & Shop (it was surprisingly inexpensive!), and got right to work. I used this recipe from Mile High Mitts.

The results were… heavenly. Soft, pillowy, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, bursting with cinnamon and sugar in every bite. What the heck was I thinking?! I couldn’t believe that I held out on these damn things for thirty-four years.

GOSH, do I have a lot of time to make up for!

So the moral of my story is that cream of tarter is not only 100% necessary in this recipe, but 100% worth the purchase. If you are stubborn (like me, most days) and prefer not to purchase a random ingredient you think you’ll use only once, never fear — there are substitutions you could try.

As I mentioned, cream of tarter provides the tangy flavor and chewy texture to snickerdoodles. If you aren’t as concerned about the tanginess, you could easily substitute baking powder — for every 1 teaspoon of cream of tarter, you should use 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder. Alternatively, if you want to try and preserve that tangy flavor, you can instead substitute fresh lemon juice or white vinegar (should be a 1:1 ratio).

Also! There is one more fun fact that I want to share before we bring #COOKIEWEEK2020 to a close. This recipe calls for a stick of softened butter. However, I remember to take my butter out of the fridge (or freezer) in advance approximately 0.2% of the time, so am always scrambling to try and soften it as quickly as possible. and then Jennifer Garner taught me that you can GRATE YOUR BUTTER to soften it faster.

I’m sorry, WHAT?! This is genius. MIND = BLOWN.

Then I went down a bit of a rabbit hole, and learned that Chrissy Teigan also has a hack to soften butter quickly. Ahh, the interwebs. Information at your fingertips!

So now that you’re fully armed with knowledge on cream of tarter and butter softening hacks, go forth and make yourself some snickerdoodles! Or any one of this year’s cookie week recipes, really.

Snickerdoodles

 

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Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

20 mins

 

Author: Talia

Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened (see Notes)
• ¼ cup cane sugar
• ¼ cup brown or coconut sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cup gluten-free flour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (see Notes)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture

• ¼ cup cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars with an electric hand mixer for 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg, and lightly beat everything until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet batter, and then mix everything with a wooden spoon until the batter is smooth and thick.
4. In a small bowl, create the cinnamon sugar topping by combining the sugar and cinnamon.
5. Scoop dough by the tablespoon full (or slightly larger), and roll it into a ball using your hands. Roll each dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated. Continue until all of your cookies have been coated in the cinnamon sugar mixture and are on the baking pans.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set; the center may still look a bit underdone.
7. Let your cookies cool completely on a wire rack. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Notes / Variations

DAIRY-FREE: To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for coconut oil or a vegan butter like Earth Butter or Miyokos.

Make sure the butter (or coconut oil) has been softened, but is not melted. This will allow it to mix correctly with the sugar.

Cream of tarter is used to provide the tangy flavor and chewy texture that snickerdoodles are known for. Though I highly recommend using it in this recipe, if you are unable to find any, you should be able to substitute 1½ teaspoons of baking powder.

RECIPE FROM: Mile High Mitts | Snickerdoodle Cookies

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 1 cookie Calories: 147 Fat: 4.2g Saturated Fat: 2.5g Carbohydrates: 9.9g Sugar: 4g Sodium: 81mg Fiber: 1g Protein: 1g

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