Snickerdoodles!! Who knows why they are called that but the name does seem to make people “snicker” – sorry!! Anyways…a delicious cinnamon coated cookie that everyone seems to love. They are quite easy to make but there are a few things you should be aware of if you want them to come out just as they are supposed to – with crackles and crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. That said, these cookies will be delicious no matter what they look like!!!
First of all, all ingredients should be at room temperature. Second, measuring quite accurately matters with this cookie. That means spooning dry ingredients like sugar and flour lightly into a cup then leveling it off. I keep scoops in my canisters and use the bottom of the scoop to level so it is quick and easy.
You can either mix these by hand or with the paddle of your electric mix. A hand mixer would work fine, too. The dough may be chilled for an hour, if you think it is too soft.
Shaping the dough and coating the balls with cinnamon sugar is the next step and goes really fast if you have two people. A fun kid project – you’d be surprised how good kids can be at rolling dough into balls. The dough should be shaped into approximately 1 inch balls. Unless you are very good at judging measurements, it helps to look at a ruler. Make your first ball the right size and set it aside. Judge all the other balls against the first one. You’ll be surprised how easy this makes it to keep them all the same size.
Use two cutlery teaspoons to toss the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar. Then, making sure that you don’t have extra sugar on the teaspoons (it will burn on the cookie sheet), use the spoons, not your hands, to transfer the balls to the cookie sheet. This prevents getting cinnamon sugar all over your hands and into the cookie dough.
The oven temperature makes all the difference in how these cookies turn out so adjust your oven accordingly. An oven thermometer is a great tool to have. Once I turned my oven off by mistake and when I checked the cookies, realized my mistake, and turned it back on – the cookies came out very flat, not crackled, crispier BUT still delicious!!!!!!!