It's a very common and traditional American Cookie, also known as Snipdoodles, Cinnamon Sugar Cookies or simply Sugar Cookies.
Growing up in Britain this type of cookie probably goes unnoticed and hidden away from the recipe books piled up in each Mother's kitchen. Even I didn't really know what one was until my honeymoon. I knew the name but didn't know what they were, I did assume some sort of sweet treat and MrD assumed something to do with a Snickers bar. Original or what!
Snickerdoodles have been around for a long time yet often go overlooked even in the USA. It is more than likely due to their plain looking and less than exotic list of ingredients. But what these old fashioned cookies do have is great flavour, a flavour of which we found rather enticing during our visit to one of the great malls of Florida! We also found that it is true what they say about Snickerdoodles, it is almost impossibly to eat just the one. They are very, very, more-ish.
Despite using the most basic of ingredients, when you do bite into one, you find the edges wonderfully crisp yet the centre soft and chewy with a lovely sweet flavour.
So when I got home I searched the web for a recipe, but as you can imagine hundreds of links came up on the infamous Google, all American sites, measurements, ingredients etc. I couldn't be bothered at that time to sit and convert it over (it never goes exact, and can't really weigh out 364.543grams of an ingredient now can we?! You can't just round up or round down as may be incorrect!). So I closed the lid on my hunt for a decent UK converted recipe.
As for their origin. Well other than the guy at the Cookie Stall explaining it was the oldest cookie in America, a bit of a Google and Wiki later, I have come to learn that other than there being many sources claiming it of German or Dutch descent and around since the late 1800s that is it. As for its name, well.... I kind of favour the explanation that Snickerdoodles are 'simple a whimsically named cookie that originated from a New England tradition of fanciful cookie names'. Well, I did learn one 'historical fact'. Today's recipes are different from older ones as they tend to use baking powder as the leavener rather than cream of tartar and baking soda (if traditional is what you are after, replace the 2tsp baking powder with 2tsp cream of tartar & 1tsp of baking soda).
Until today. I was sat looking through some pictures on the rather self explained Food Porn and amidst the droolage, Snickerdoodles popped into my head again. The hunt on Google began. I found a recipe from an American Mom living overseas, converted into British measurements. Perfect. So I gave it a shot.
Even the most baking-phobic of us out there, and there are plenty about, can have a go at this. It is super easy.
Ingredients
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2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Coarse Salt
225g Unsalted Butter (room temp)
335g Caster Sugar plus 2 tbsp (for cinnamon mix)
2 eggs
1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180'c. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put butter and sugar into another bowl. In a third bowl mix together the 2 tbsp sugar plus the cinnamon.
Using an electric whisk, mix together the butter & sugar for about 3 minutes, until fluffy. Mix the eggs with the butter and sugar. Reduce the whisk speed to slow; gradually mix in the flour mixture.
2. Shape the dough into balls of about 1.5 - 2 inches depending on how large you like your cookies. The dough might be quite sticky, you can add more flour but try to just go with it and get them into the sugar/cinnamon mixture soon, rolling them around to get a full covering. Place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.Gently press them down with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass.
3. Bake until the edges are golden, about 12-20 minutes. You may want to turn them halfway through. The timing depends on how big you made your cookie dough balls.
Overcooking won't destroy them, you just may find that they lose their trademark chewy centre. Then leave them for around 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
I cooked mine for 5 minutes, turned them around, cooked for another 5 minutes, then another 4 minutes, another turn, and then a final 3 minutes.
I have a feeling they may have been fine without the final 3 minutes however MrD is definitely not disappointed and reckons they are still just as scrummy!
I have a feeling they may have been fine without the final 3 minutes however MrD is definitely not disappointed and reckons they are still just as scrummy!
Enjoy! x