Super Soft and Puffy Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are my mister's favorite cookies.  I have always thought they are fine, but to be honest I can take them or leave them so I've only made them a few times.   On Father's Day Jake and I made up a batch of Snickerdoodles while Josh was sleeping in.  They were good and he was happy with them.  Then the next day I went to work and saw these unbelievably soft and puffy Snickerdoodles on the table in the lounge.  I broke off half of a cookie, then quickly realized my mistake and went back for the other half (and one more).

These were far and away the best Snickerdoodles I have ever had.  These were not cookies I could "take or leave," if recess hadn't been over I could have easily eaten a couple more.  I felt kind of guilty about how superior these were to the ones we had made for Josh the day before so I set out to get the recipe and share the love with my hubby.  Paula, the teacher who made them, was kind enough to share the recipe not only with me, but with all of you as well.  If you even sort of like Snickerdoodles, you have to give these a try!

Start out by preheating your oven to 375, lining your cookie sheets with parchment paper, and mixing up some cinnamon and sugar to roll your cookies in.

Cream together the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.  This step of making cookies always requires a lot of willpower for me because it looks and smells so darn good!

While the butter and sugar are doing their magic, sift together some flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

To the butter and sugar, add in 2 eggs, some milk, and a little vanilla.  Mix it all together, then add in your dry ingredients.  This is a lot of flour so I highly recommend wrapping your mixer with plastic wrap and turning your mixer on low to start so you don't end up with a white kitchen.

 

One of the reasons I don't make Snickerdoodles that often is that I hate waiting.  When I decide to make cookies, I want to make cookies.  Refrigerating dough is such a hassle.  This recipe does NOT need to be refrigerated before rolling.  Hooray!

Get out an ice cream scoop (that is not a typo, these cookies are large and in charge) and use it to portion out your dough.  You can just eyeball it, but I like to use a scoop so that my cookies are all the same size.  Roll each scoop of dough into a ball and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar mixture you made earlier.

That is the unbaked cookie.  See what I mean, these cookies are huge!

Place the cookies a couple of inches apart on a baking sheet and flatten them a little bit.  Bake for 8-9 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

I think it is better to err on the side of underdone because they will continue to cook on the cookie sheet once you pull them out of the oven.  The photo below was taken about 10 minutes after they came out of the oven.   Can you tell how the middle is slightly underbaked?  To me, that is the perfect consistency because they set up as they cool and this will keep them super soft and delicious.  The photo right above the recipe was taken the next day so you can see how soft they stay.

If you don't want giant cookies (though why you wouldn't I honestly can't imagine), just use your regular cookie scoop and bake for about 6 minutes.

These cookies are everything that is so great about a Snickerdoodle, the slightly crunchy crust from the cinnamon sugar outside and the sweet cookie inside while staying super soft and puffy which is exactly how I like my cookies.

Yum, yum, yum!

Paula's Snickerdoodles
Makes about 2 dozen large cookies

• 3 3/4 cups flour           
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter           
• 2 cups sugar                 
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla              
• 3 tlbs. sugar                
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Mix the 3 tbls. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  
3. Cream butter and 2 cups sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. 
4. Add in eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat well. 
5. Add in dry ingredients and mix well.  
6. Form dough into balls.  Roll balls in cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper a few inches apart. Flatten slightly. 
7. Bake 8-9 minutes or until light golden.

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