The Ultimate Guide to Snickerdoodles with a Delicious Bonus Recipe
- Piece of Cake Staff
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Written by Shawn Krajewski
Did you know snickerdoodles and sugar cookies are essentially the same type of cookie? One is made with cream of tartar and rolled in cinnamon, while the other is rolled in sugar. So, if you think about it, I’m practically giving you one and a half recipes if you want to make a sugar cookie as well. (This is a joke as I have not tested it.)
Full Recipe:
Equipment:
1 Bowl
1 Spatula
1 Mixer
Measuring spoons
Small and large containers
1 large bowl
Ice cream scoop
Baking sheet or sheet pans
Parchment paper
Ingredients:
Stick of butter (4 ounces)
3 ½ ounces of shortening
10 ½ ounces of sugar
1 ¼ tsp of salt
⅛ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 egg
¾ ounces malted milk
1 ½ ounces caster sugar
10 ½ ounce flour
Step 1: Mixing
First, set the oven to 400 degrees. Next, get out the mixer and place in its bowl butter, shortening, sugar, and salt. Set it on slow-medium for about 1 minute. By doing this, you are creating the fats. These are all of your fatty, solid-liquid ingredients that melt easily and taste good but lack flavor and sweetness.
Once mixed, add in your nutmeg, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Set the speed on low and let it mix for 2 minutes. Next, add the egg in, and scrape the sides of the bowl using a spatula. All of your dough should be in the center of the bowl. The reason for this is to avoid any inconsistencies in the finished dough's texture or flavor. After this, continue mixing on low until homogenized (i.e., the dough has a consistent color and texture).
Lastly, add flour to the dough. I highly recommend you measure the flour out into a different container first, then add it to the mixer. Once added, set the mixer to the lowest setting. This is to avoid you setting it too fast and your kitchen becoming a floury winter wonderland.
Step 2: Scooping, Seasoning, and Baking
Now that you have prepared your dough, it's almost time for baking. But first, take the rest of your ingredients and add them to a large bowl. Gently stir to produce your sweet seasoning.
Next, use the ice cream scooper to portion out around 16 cookies' worth of dough. Each ball of dough should then be rolled in the seasoning before baking. When you're done seasoning the balls of dough, place them onto the baking sheet with space between them. Then smush them down. Make sure the baking sheets have parchment paper and not pan spray. While both prevent sticking, pan spray will result in larger and wider cookies, which may result in lower structural integrity.
Place the pan into the oven and bake for about 6 minutes. When the time is up, lower the temp to 350, and cook for another 5 minutes. If cooked too long at a higher temperature, the cookies will be burnt, but if cooked for too long at a lower temperature, the cookies will be undercooked. Plus, if cooked between the two temperatures, the cookies will have a poor texture. That's why you must turn down the heat halfway through baking.* Once finished, take them out of the oven, cool, and then enjoy!
The History:
Oddly enough, the history of the snickerdoodle is both long and short in that it has a simple origin, but no one can agree on what it is. Some say this cookie simply originates from a cookbook; others say it's because of a marketing ploy or that it originates from the term “snail sweat roll.”
Well, I have a theory of my own that combines all of the previous theories into one. After the creation of the sugar cookie, the recipe made its way to Germany and shared a similar taste to a common pastry at the time. It soon took on the nickname of “snail noodle,” which was the name given to that pastry because it was so similar to it. After a couple of years of traveling all around Europe, the recipe began to change. The seasoning would adapt to include cinnamon to differentiate itself from sugar cookies and to add a more unique and desirable flavor. This would stay with the “snail noodle” when it was brought by a German baker, Cornelia Bedford, into America.
There, the cookie was adopted by baking powder companies to advertise the usage of baking powder. However, since baking powder at the time was not very accessible to most people, most households decided to make a homemade alternative using cream of tartar. The cookie was now so different from the original sugar cookie that inspired it, people decided to use its original German nickname, but in English, of snickerdoodle.
*Notes:
Remember, baking is a science. There is only a degree of difference between liquid and gas, so you have to be specific to be safe.
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