Better Homes And Gardens Junior Cookbook Snickerdoodles

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What makes snickerdoodles so, well, snickerdoodley? Its distinctive crackling and cinnamon-sugar topping make it a standout cookie treat. Don't forget to include cream of tartar on your grocery shopping list when you're planning to bake snickerdoodle cookies. Along with baking soda, it's the secret to the cookie's leavening. Some home cooks claim that hand mixing the snickerdoodles, instead of using an electric beater creates a better cookie, but you be the judge!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose or unbleached flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Make With

Gold Medal Flour

Steps

1

Heat oven to 400°F.
2

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
3

Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
4

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

tip 1
Be sure to measure the flour carefully, spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it off with a metal spatula or back of a straight knife. Too much flour will make what should be a light, chewy cookie denser and more cake-like.
tip 2
What is cream of tartar? It's actually a stabilizer (potassium bitartrate) and is often used when whipping air into egg whites and cream. Because it's an acid, it can be added to sugar syrups to reduce crystallization—and in cookies, in combination with baking soda, it actually forms a type of baking powder.
tip 3
Avoid overmixing as you incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet which can result in a tough cookie.
tip 4
You want your cookie dough balls well coated in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, since that's the best part! The best way to do it? Pour the mixture onto a large plate, so there's plenty of room for rolling.
tip 5
For best results, bake cookies on the middle oven rack. For even baking, it's best to bake your classic Snickerdoodle cookies one baking sheet at a time.

Nutrition

90 Calories, 4 g Total Fat, 1 g Protein, 13 g Total Carbohydrate

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving

Calories: 90

Calories from Fat: 35

Total Fat: 4 g

Cholesterol: 15 mg

Sodium: 55 mg

Potassium: 30 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 13 g

Protein: 1 g

Vitamin A: 0%; 0%

Vitamin C: 2%; 2%

Calcium: 0%; 0%

Iron: 2%; 2%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

The whimsical name is just part of its allure, for the snickerdoodle may sound funny to say, but it tastes great to eat. In tracing its origins, some food historians point to the German word schneckennudel ("snail noodles"), a cinnamon-spiced pastry whose spirals resembled a snail's shell. Others say it's probably an American-made name, in keeping with the Colonial-era habit of giving silly, whimsical names to cookies. Cooks from that era gave their cookies names like Jumbles, Plunkets, Cry Babies, Jolly Boys, Tangle Breeches and Kinkawoodles. These days, the flavor—and the scent—of home-baked snickerdoodles is more popular than ever. You can find snickerdoodle flavor or scent in cereals, coffee, ice cream, candles and even body lotion (because who doesn't want to smell like a snickerdoodle?). Once you've mastered the basics of this snickerdoodle recipe, consider trying the variations you'll find in Betty's best snickerdoodle cookies collection.