Eating Outside the Box: Snickerdoodles

After two years of living on campus, it's great to finally have a full-functioning kitchen. Goodness knows I have book upon book of recipes I want to experiment with, but Santa Clara's week one has consisted mainly of pre-made salads from Trader Joe's and quick grilled sandwiches and enchiladas for dinner.

So this week I hope to kick off the start of the school quarter with some more recipes. With a three-day weekend in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., today seemed like the perfect opportunity to try something new. I brainstormed recipes to find a perfect sweet that would please most of my friends. Some potential cookies included: chocolate-chip-coconut, peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip, a mint-chocolate type, or snickerdoodles. Final decision...snickerdoodles.

Here is the Snickerdoodles recipe and instructions from the Food Network.

Total Time: ~37 Minutes (20-25 prep and ~12 cooking time)

Yields: ~ 20 cookies (depending on how large/small you roll them)

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 stick unsalted butter (softened)

1 1/2 cups sugar (plus 3 tbsp for covering)

2 large eggs

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Place the butter and shortening in a bowl and mix with a handheld or standing mixer until the two are well-blended.

3. Add the 1 1/2 cups sugar and continue to mix the batter until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes)
4. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating the batter well after each one.

5. Next up, mix in the flour, salt, and baking soda, blending until smooth. The dough may have a pebble-like consistency, but don't fear. Continue to blend and after a minute or so, while scraping the edge of the bowl, it will begin to thicken.

Notice how the dough is not blended together as much? Just keep mixing and the final result will look a little more like below.

6. Mix the 3 tbsp sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough into small ball forms (1.5" recommendation, but it's up to you...mini cookies, cookie pie? the options are endless) Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar, making sure it surrounds the entire form.