Snickerdoodles

I was in a biscuit making mood recently and although I initially thought of something chocolate, I recalled a cinnamon flavoured biscuit with a funny name and was pretty sure I saw a recipe on one of my favourite blogs.

So I headed over to Sally’s website, Sally’s Baking Addiction, and did a search for Snickerdoodles and a number of recipes appeared.  The one I ended up choosing was the soft and thick snickerdoodles, because let’s face it, they look amazing (as does everything on Sally’s blog)!

Wikipedia talks about the origin of the name being a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln (“snail noodles”) or more in line with the New England tradition of whimsical cookie names.  Whatever the origin, I think it is a cute name.

So onto the biscuits.  They are a one bowl mix which makes thing nice and simple, as well as easy to clean up.  You’ll need butter, sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In addition, you will need a bit more cinnamon and sugar mixed together for the coating you will roll the biscuit dough in.

Beat the butter until it is nice and smooth, about one minute.  Add in the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy before incorporating the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt).

Incorporate the dry mixture into the butter in three parts.

You can use your hand mixer or stand mixer to begin with, but as the dough becomes quite thick once the majority of the flour is added you may need to use some of that elbow grease and mix with a spatula/spoon.

Make balls of dough from 1½ to 2 tbsp of mixture.  I used a #30 ice cream scoop which is about two tablespoons but I found them to be a little large once baked.  I also think my snickerdoodles spread a little bit because it was quite a warm day so the butter was really quite soft after the dough was made, and although Sally says you do not have to chill this mixture, I probably should have then they might not have spread so far.

Roll each of the balls into the cinnamon sugar and place on a lined baking tray.  I had some of the sugar left over so sprinkled it over the biscuits for a little extra cinnamon goodness.

Bake in a preheated 190°C oven for 11-12 minutes.  The snickerdoodles will be really really soft at this stage, which can be deceiving, trust me, but let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Because mine spread whilst baking a lot of them touched, but came easily apart as I was transferring them to the rack.

Although my snickerdoodles didn’t turn out quite as thick as Sally’s, they were still soft and so gosh darn tasty!  With a nice big glass of milk, you can’t go wrong with these babies.  Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Snickerdoodles

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Course

Biscuits and Cookies

Servings

biscuits

Ingredients

For the Biscuits

• 230 g unsalted butter room temperature
• 267 g sugar
• 1 egg(s) large
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 375 g plain/all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp bicarb/baking soda
• 2.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• 50 g sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Course Biscuits and Cookies Servings biscuits Ingredients For the Biscuits 230 g unsalted butter room temperature 267 g sugar 1 egg(s) large 2 tsp vanilla extract 375 g plain/all-purpose flour 2 tsp cream of tartar 1 tsp bicarb/baking soda 2.5 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp salt For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating 50 g sugar 1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating

1. Whisk together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

For the Biscuits

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a baking tray.
2. Beat the butter until it is nice and smooth, about one minute, using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  Add in the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the egg and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
5. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in three parts. As the flour is added, you may need to switch from the hand or stand mixer due to the stiffness of the dough.
6. Take 1.5 to 2 tbsp of dough and form into a ball. Roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar coating and place onto the baking tray. Once all the biscuits are formed, sprinkle over any remaining cinnamon sugar.
7. Place the tray(s) into the preheated oven and bake for 11-12 minutes. The biscuits will appear very soft so allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.