Snickerdoodles, Revisited

When I first started this blog, one of my first recipes was for Chad's favorite cookie, hands down: Snickerdoodles (see the picture here -- my photos were kind of awful at the beginning!). But now let me introduce what he has proclaimed as "the best batch of snickerdoodles you've ever made."

Because besides the better picture, I've also improved the recipe. First of all, I baked some extra cinnamon into the cookies. That seems like a no brainer, right? But my old recipe was essentially a sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar -- and I think it makes much more sense to make a cinnamon cookie, and then roll that in cinnamon sugar.

The other change is something I was a little curious about. My last few batches of snickerdoodles using the old recipe (they're Chad's favorites -- I make them a lot...) haven't quite spread out as much as I wanted them too -- they ended up a bit too puffy and cake-y. So this time, I melted about 1/3 of the butter and mixed it in at the end, and perfect! The spread out and were perfectly crisp on the bottoms and tops, soft in the middle. Yum!

Finally, thanks to a reader's comment, I used cream of tartar for the acidity, rather than lemon juice. Definitely an improvement! So, keep reading for my new, completely foolproof and absolutely delicious, snickerdoodle recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 stick plus 2 tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) melted butter

Additional white sugar and cinnamon for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Mix together one stick plus two tablespoons of butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, cinnamon and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add the melted butter and mix until incorporated (add a little extra flour if the dough is greasy).

3. Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the topping in a separate small bowl. Roll tablespoon-sized balls of dough in the mixture.

4. Coat a baking sheet with parchment paper or silipat, and place the balls about two inches apart. Press them down with your fingers to help them spread out. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar mixture.

4. Bake for 8 minutes. Let them cook for one minute on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.