Besides teaching cooking I taught a class called Child Development (we ran a preschool lab). During my lesson demo every September I’d read “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and we’d do a few related lessons. The early math lesson was a cookie graph to poll the class’s favorite cookie. Not surprisingly, chocolate chip hailed supreme, but every single year the humble snickerdoodle gave it a run for it’s money. Honestly I never understood what all the fuss was about – that is, until I made this these.
This was a school recipe that has been on my blog from the beginning but was in desperate need of a makeover. Because each day I’d have at least 3 different cooking classes (with 5 kitchens each, so 15 batches of each recipe) I knew that I couldn’t open the door to tasting. In their constant need for validation my students would beseech me to try theirs – usually I’d say “later!” and give it away once they were gone. Maybe you think this is crazy but for me it was a flood gates situation – if I tried the cookies from one kitchen I’d have to try them from all 15. Im droning on in my efforts to tell you I never ate one of those snickerdoodles, but I knew it was a class favorite every semester. And now, years later, I’m so glad I held on to the recipe as it’s the one my daughter begs for.
Snickerdoodles
Makes 36
2 2/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. Â cream of tartar
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 Â c. shortening
1 1/2Â c. granulated sugar
2 Â eggs
1Â tsp. vanilla extract
Coating:
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Whisk the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl.
3.Cream the butter, shortening and sugar.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla.
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Do not over mix.
6. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes or up to several days.
7. Shape chilled dough into balls, roll in coating, and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet. If you don’t have parchment place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Cookies should be golden around the edges.Â
8. Cool on wire rack.
These will keep for 3 or 4 days tightly sealed at room temp.
