Snipdoodles

Snipdoodles - made April 18, 2015 from The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball

This is another one of those “not my finest moment” sort of post. It’s actually a continuation of the Snickerdoodle Apple Cobbler I attempted because it’s the same sugar cookie recipe on that post. When I made the dough for the cobbler, I thought it was a bit too soft and I was sure it would spread, even if I had frozen the dough and baked it later.

So I thought I would be all clever and bake the remaining dough as a bar cookie. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about the spread. Because the flavor of the cookie as baked on top of the cobbler was actually pretty good so I thought it would do well as a bar cookie. Ha. Color me wrong, Batman.

Actually, it might’ve worked but for one thing – I baked the remaining dough in too small of a pan, only an 8” square baking pan. I would’ve been better off baking in at least a 9” pan or larger. Why? Because baking in a smaller pan means the bar cookie was too thick and needed a longer baking time. By the time the middle was done, the whole thing was rather dry. I’m not sure it would’ve worked well as a bar cookie anyway but the thickness in a small pan didn’t help. As it is, the flavor wasn’t as good in bar cookie form, probably because of being a bit overbaked.

If I had been thinking, I should’ve held back some of the dough and portioned it into dough balls to bake later as the cookies they were meant to be. Then I could’ve given this recipe a fair review. Alas, I wasn’t thinking. So if you make this recipe, make it as real cookies like the recipe lists below, not a bar cookie. Maybe you’ll have a better outcome than I did.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but still firm

1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup milk

3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. Beat the butter and 1 ½ cups of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated.
3. Add the milk and stir to incorporate. 
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the next 5 ingredients (flour through nutmeg) and then stir into the butter-sugar mixture. Chill dough for 2 hours. 
5. Heat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Shape dough into large, walnut-size balls, about 1 ¼ inches in diameter.   
6. Mix together the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Dip tops of dough balls in sugar-cinnamon mixture.  Place balls 3 inches apart on lined baking sheet. 
7. Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 6 minutes. Cookies will appear undercooked when removed from the oven; the centers will still be very moist and light.  Remove cookies to a rack; as they cool, they will firm up.  Repeat with a new sheet of parchment paper until all the dough is baked.