nothing like a cookie jar full of snickerdoodles--enough to share
with the neighbors!
It started raining today, so the cottage took on a particularly cozy feel. And what could make it feel even more cozy? The smell of cinnamon wafting through the air, of course! My thoughts went immediately to snickerdoodles. I first checked my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, circa 1953, only to find that snickerdoodles had not yet made the recipe list (were they even invented yet?) So my next stop was my 1980's edition--a lifesaver to me in the past 25+ years more than I can number. And there it was--the recipe!
Next to the pantry only to find that I had only self-raising flour. No problem, I thought; I'll just leave out the baking powder. NO baking powder in this recipe. Oh well...improvise, improvise. Here's a similar recipe to the one I used.
A couple of hints: be sure to not make the cookies bigger than 1" balls. To save some time on this process, you can roll out a piece of cookie dough around 6 inches long and then just pinch off one inch and roll a bit before rolling in the sugar/cinnamon mix. I also extended my baking time to 13 minutes per batch. Just adjust for your oven.
Finally, two of the best friends a baker can have in the cottage is a good, sturdy cookie sheet ( I really like air-bake--they wear really well as long as you take care not to immerse them in water) and Silpat sheets. The sheets used as liners make the bottoms of cookies a lovely even color. I've had a pair of the sheets for nearly ten years, and they're holding their own. With care, they'll last a long, long time.
