Snickerdoodles

It’s almost eleven-thirty at night on a Saturday and I am laying in bed blogging about baking.

Apparently in the last week I have aged twenty-seven years.

Last year when I did the first ever Twelve Days of Treats, it was one of those things that sounded like a really good idea in my head but then I wanted to kill myself when I actually had to execute it. It was right up there with the AP Calculus class I took my senior year in high school and when I decided I could handle being the swim team captain and the sorority president at the same time.

But this year, something is different. I can’t really put my finger on it, but this go round I have a new found enthusiasm for baking.

So instead of dragging my feet and making a treat that was already in my repertoire one night at a time, today I spent six hours in the kitchen, baking up a storm. Including redoing things I had already made for the blog and just really wanted to make again.

Cough. Macarons. Cough.

First on the list of treats today was a cookie that I never really had as a kid, but have recently fallen in love with.

The snickerdoodle is reminiscent of both the cinnamon rolls my grandmother and I made when I was young and the delicious sugar cookies I made with my mom.

Match made in Twelve Days of Treats heaven.

You will need…

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 cup shortening

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 3 tablespoons sugar or colored sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

With a handheld or standing mixer, beat together the shortening and butter.

Add the 1 1/2 cups sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. 

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture and blend until smooth.

Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. In this case you can use sugar sprinkles that are holiday colors.

Roll the dough, by hand, into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar.

Flatten the balls into 1/2-inch thick disks, spacing them evenly on unlined cookie sheets.

Bake until light brown, but still moist in the center, about 12 minutes.

Cool on a rack.

And them put them in an adorable tin and share the doodle wealth.

Love and Beer Floats

Angela