Snickerdoodles

 
 One of my children once said, “It’s hard to be in a bad mood when there are Snickerdoodles in the house!” Like the best sugar cookie but with tons more personality.  I don’t usually like to cook with shortening but I make an exception for these cookies…it’s for the texture…crisp yet chewy.  This is a recipe from Baking Illustrated.  
 
Hints for getting the best results: use parchment paper, try to make the cookies uniform in size, bake until just starting to brown around the edged and no more… the centers will be soft and puffy but will collapse back down and set as they are cooling.
 

Snickerdoodles

Serves 2 dozen
By author Baking Illustrated via Margaret @ The Right Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus 3 tablespoons for rolling dough)
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (for rolling dough)

Directions

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening and 1½ cups sugar on medium speed until well combined, 1 to 1½ minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and beat again until combined, about 30 seconds. Add in the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds.
3. In a small, shallow bowl, combine the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon for rolling the dough. Stir well to combine. Working with a heaping tablespoon of dough each time, roll the dough into 1 inch balls Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
4. Bake until the edges of the cookies are beginning to set and the center are soft and puffy, 9-11 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets 2-3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.