Little People Sugar Cookies

I've joined the blog hop at Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms! Come join the fun!

So last week my 3 year old daughter was the "Special Helper" of the week in her preschool class and needed to take a snack and drinks for her classmates. Their theme was Friends and the letter C so I came up with the idea for "Friend Cookies" using both the them and the letter... Then I had to figure out how best to do this.  I remembered the wonderful sugar cookie recipe from The Decorated Cookie blog.  So I made a double batch of the cookie dough and a single batch of the royal icing from my adaptation of her great recipe and then rolled out white fondant to 1/8" thick and "painted" it with "paint". Two special items I used which you can find online are the "princess" flavoring from King Arthur Flour and the Pettinice Fondant from KitchenKrafts.com This is, by far, the BEST fondant I've ever worked with. It rolled so smoothly and worked so well as a "canvas" for painting the people that I will definitely be using it again!

For anyone not familiar with painting on fondant, it's best to let it dry for an hour or two after cutting but before painting. This allows it to "harden" a bit and makes it easier to handle while painting. For the "paint", I used a medicine dropper to put about 3 drops of clear vanilla into a small bowl and then used a toothpick to put a "blob" of gel food coloring (available wherever cake making supplies are sold) into the vanilla. Stir this until the color is dissolved and you have a wonderful "watercolor" paint that works perfectly on the fondant.  Not being any sort of painter, I was pretty proud of the results of this project. I used a food marker to put the kids names on their cookies after painting. They were a big hit I understand :)

All ready for school! 14 cute kids and 3 super teachers!

                      
Basic Sugar Cookies


Adapted from The Decorated Cookie


2 sticks unsalted butter -- softened
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 egg
2 drops "Princess" flavoring
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt


Cream butter and sugar in mixer for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg and blend well. Add extract/flavoring and blend. Mix flour and salt together in a separate bowl and gradually add to creamed mixture. Put dough into a gallon size Ziploc bag and chill for about 2 hours. Working with about 1/3 of the dough at a time, briefly knead and roll about 1/8-1/4" thick. Cut out shapes. Bake cut out cookies on parchment lined baking trays at 375 for 12-14 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack to completely cool.


Note: You can also freeze this dough. After mixing, put dough in a gallon size Freezer ziploc bag and freeze. Thaw overnight or for at least a few hours in the refrigerator in the ziploc bag. If too chilled to handle, let sit at room temperature for 30 min-1 hour until workable. Chilled is good so don't let it get too mushy before rolling. If dough is sticky, put back in fridge until re-chilled before trying to roll again.

Cookies cooled and ready for decorating, fondant "toppers" painted

Royal Icing




Adapted from The Decorated Cookie

4 tablespoons meringue powder
1/2 cup water
7 cups confectioner's sugar -- (7 to 8)
2 drops Princess flavoring
1 tablespoon light corn syrup


Combine meringue powder and water in a stand mixer using whisk attachment. Whisk for 2-3 minutes or until foamy on low speed, then increase speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form. Add princess flavoring and corn syrup, then gradually add confectioner's sugar. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a month.


Enjoy!

Dirty Snowballs

Dirty Snowballs

 

 
If you've been reading this blog, you know that I've been playing along with GoodLife Eats and My Baking Addiction's Holiday Recipe Exchange. This week there were two chances to play with two different themes. The first theme, Comfort Food, I blogged about my macaroni and cheese recipe. The second theme this week is a repeat of a previous theme...BUTTER!  

Now, those of you who know me personally know we do not keep margarine in our home. We ONLY use butter, and yes, we keep BOTH kinds (salted and unsalted) on hand. The only time I really use salted butter though is for eating straight up, like for bread and butter, or for using on things like grilled cheese sandwiches, waffles, etc. The rest of the time I use unsalted. In my way of thinking, I can always add salt to a recipe, but I can't take it out :) 

So for this round of the BUTTER theme, I decided to go with a dessert since that is my favorite thing to cook :) Last BUTTER round you may recall, I shared my recipe for Buttery Potato Rolls. This time I'm sharing a brand new recipe, fresh from my kitchen, which combines the best of two of my favorite kinds of holiday cookies...meltaways and Mexican Wedding Cookies (sometimes called Russian Tea Cakes). This recipe has the tender, flakiness of the meltaway with the nutty goodness of the wedding cookie. Add to that the yummy taste of a hot butter rum and you've got a winner! In thinking of a name for these cookies, I came up with Dirty Snowballs.  They reminded me of when I was a kid and you'd get some sand in your snowball when the snow wasn't real deep... thus, Dirty Snowballs.  They turned out better than I had hoped and I certainly hope some of you will give them a try.  

Now, if you're a dough-eater like me, please don't be disappointed when you taste the dough... It is NOT a sweet dough and it DOES have a strong rum/alcohol taste when raw, but when the dough is baked off and rolled in powdered sugar, these cookies are light, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth, balls of goodness! So give them a shot! You won't be disappointed!

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Kerrygold.

Dirty Snowballs
Recipe By     : Christi Brogan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup pecans -- or use pecan meal
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter -- (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup confectioners' sugar -- divided
1/4 cup spiced rum -- like Captain Morgan
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Using a food processor, chop the pecans until very fine, almost a pecan meal consistency.

Consistency of pecans after chopping

Combine flour, pecans, cornstarch and spices in a bowl. Place 1/3 cup of the confectioners sugar and the butter in the workbowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and gradually mix in flour mixture. Add the rum and vanilla and beat to throughly combine.

Chill dough in freezer for 30 minutes to re-harden the butter.

Dough ready for the freezer

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make balls of the dough approximately 1 tbsp in size and  place each 1" apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until just golden, about 15 minutes.

Lightly golden in color

Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool 10 minutes. Gently toss warm cookies with remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Cookies can be refrigerated in airtight containers up to 2 weeks.

A Dirty Snowball

Crumbly, sweet and flaky - YUM!

Yield:
  "2 1/2 dozen"

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

 

And now for the next entry in the Holiday Recipe Exchange with GoodLife Eats and My Baking Addiction... This week I decided to go the easy route and start with a recipe from a fairly reliable source... Martha Stewart! I know Martha gives some folks the frights, but I've found her recipes to usually be worth repeating... This one in particular I've tried in the past and found them absolutely addicting, so I decided I'd share my take on her recipe for Mexican Hot-Chocolate Cookies. This cookie is like a cross between a snickerdoodle (owing to the cream of tartar) and a cup of hot chocolate with a little bit of chile heat added in for fun. They come out of the oven slightly crispy but still chewy and wonderful! If you enjoy this recipe, then come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.

 

 

Santa would LOVE a plate of these cookies!

Mexican Hot-Chocolate Cookies

Original recipe source: Martha Stewart.com

Adaptations by me!

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (the darker the better)

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup unsalted butter -- (2 sticks) room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (homemade if possible!)

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly ground ancho chile

  

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  

Pepper prep: Take your ancho chile pod and break it open, removing all the seeds and the stem. Place the flesh of the chile in your food processor or, if you're like me and have a dedicated "spice grinder" (aka coffee bean grinder that's been re-purposed for spices), use that. Just be sure you don't use your regular coffee grinder for this or you're next cuppa joe may be on fire! Grind the pepper until it's in powder form. If, like me, your pepper is a little too soft (ie. not dry enough) grind enough for this recipe and then let the rest dry out for another use. Put 1/2 tsp of this freshly ground pepper in a small bowl for later use in this recipe.

Freshly ground ancho chile

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Well creamed butter and sugar takes time...don't underbeat it!

Scrape down side of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat to combine. With mixer on low,

add the cream of tartar, salt and baking soda, allowing each ingredient to incorporate before adding the next. Add cocoa powder next followed by the flour in small increments (so you don't wear it!)

Dough's ready to go!

In the small bowl with your freshly ground ancho powder, add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. 

The rolling mixture

 

Using heaping tablespoons (I used a #40 cookie scoop which is about 1.5 tbsp), form balls of dough and roll in chile-cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place, about 3 inches apart, on baking sheets. 

Ready to bake

Bake until cookies are set in center and begin to crack, about 10 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. 

  

Nicely crackled but still chewy

Enjoy this recipe and let me know if you give it a whirl! I love to get comments from readers who've tried them!

Very Vanilla Scottish Shortbread with Vanilla Icing

Ok, so this week's Holiday Recipe Exchange ingredient is Vanilla...and I LOVE vanilla! I love to use it in all kinds of things and even find myself adding it to things that don't necessarily call for it. Part of my love of it is probably due to the fact that I make my own extract and love the pure taste of just vanilla in my extract.

If you've never made extract before, my recipe is super simple... just vanilla beans and vodka. I buy a big bottle of cheap vodka (usually the plastic bottle from the superstore) and buy a bunch of vanilla beans (at least 4, usually 6 for a big bottle). Split the beans down the length, then drop them whole into the bottle of vanilla. Put in the pantry for at least 6 weeks to "cure" and then use. I leave the beans in the bottle, but after it has reached your desired strength, you can remove them if you like. Now, homemade vanilla won't be as dark as imitation because there are no added colors or flavors like in the imitation, but the flavor is beyond wonderful... But this isn't my recipe for the exchange, so just take that as a little "extra" :)

For this week's exchange I decided I wanted to highlight the flavor of vanilla in it's pure form, not just incorporate it into something that might mask it's true nature. So, what better recipe than shortbread! Little more than flour, butter and sugar, vanilla makes an excellent addition to shortbread. So for this week's recipe exchange, I present

Very Vanilla Scottish Shortbread with Vanilla Icing

1 vanilla bean

1 cup granulated sugar

1 lbs unsalted butter plus 4 tbsp divided, at room temperature

1 egg, room temperature

5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp table salt, divided

4 tbsp milk

1 cups conectioner's sugar

red and green food coloring

For shortbread:

Preheat oven to 350F. Take vanilla bean and slit down length. Using the back of a knife, scrape the seeds (also called "caviar") out of the pod and into the work bowl of a food processor.

Cut the remaining pod into 1-2 inch pieces and reserve the for drizzle. Add 1 cup granulated sugar to food processor and pulse 10 times for 10 seconds each to combine. This will accomplish two things: first, you will incorporate the vanilla seeds into your sugar and second, you will reduce the size of the sugar granules so they will mix into the butter better. You now have a quick "vanilla sugar".

Place 1 lb of softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream for 30 seconds, then add vanilla sugar and cream for at least 2 minutes more or until light in color and fluffy.

Blend in egg and 1/4 tsp salt, then slowly incorporate flour, beating until JUST combined. Do not overmix or your shortbread will be tough! Pat out into an 11x7 bar pan (I like my medium stoneware bar pan from Pampered Chef for this) and score into bars with a knife.

Prick with a fork (also called "docking") and place in preheated oven. Bake at 350F for 15 min then reduce temperature to 200F. and continue to bake for 1 hr.

Meanwhile, begin preparing icing.

For icing:

Put 4 tbsp of butter and milk into a small microwavable bowl. Heat until butter melts and mixture is hot. Add reserved vanilla pod pieces and allow to steep for at least 10 minutes. Remove pod pieces and discard. Whisk in confectioner's sugar. Divide into two small bowls and add red coloring to one and green to the other. Cover tightly and set aside for final step. When cookies are baked, remove from oven and allow to cool at least 10 minutes in the pan before breaking apart on score marks and moving to a cooling rack.

Do not be a sillyhead like me and rush getting them out of the pan...or you'll end up with lots of broken pieces :)

Allow to cool completely. Once cool, place a small cookie sheet or sheet pan under cookies on cooling rack to catch excess icing. Using the tines of a fork, drizzle red then green icing over cookies. Allow to dry before storing in a sealed container.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Beanilla!

Gifts In A Jar

So as promised, here are the recipes and photos from the bridal shower gift I gave my sister this past weekend. I posted the "teaser" photo earlier which showed the four gifts in a jar with the accouterments that made the gift. Three of the jar mixes came from the book The Ultimate Gifts for the Cookie Jar by Lia Roessner Wilson. Here's a link on Amazon:





Along with the three recipes I used from this book, I also used the Mocha Rum Balls recipe I posted about earlier for a total of four gifts in a jar. Here are the three recipes:

The Recipes:

Hearty Trail Mix Cookies

These hearty cookies are filled with natural goodness - oats, raisins and coconut - as well as with a chocolate treat. They're not only delicious, but colorful too. The candies provide a rainbow of color throughout.
Ingredients for the jar:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup M&M candies

Instructions for jar:

1. In a 1-quart jar: pack brown sugar in bottom and make as level as possible. Pour sugar over and level.
2. Pour oats over sugar and level.
3. In small bowl, combine flour; baking powder and baking soda. Mix well. Gently spoon flour mixture over oats. Level carefully, then tamp down.
4. Sprinkle raisins over flour mixture. Level and smooth the edges to make them even. Sprinkle raisins on top and press down. Sprinkle coconut over raisins and press down.
5. Sprinkle candies on top. Press down and place lid on jar.

For the gift tag:

Hearty Trail Mix Cookies

• 1 egg
• 6 Tbsp butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Empty contenst of jar into large mixing bowl. Add egg and softened butter.
2. Beat on low speed or by hand to blend, then drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
3. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack. (Makes about 3 dozen.)

Colorful Candy Cookies

Colorful cookies are really sugar cookies speckled with colorful, candy-coated chocolate.

Ingredients for jar:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup M&M candies

Instructions for jar:

1. Place sugar in 1-quart jar and smooth over top to make even.
2. Spoon brown sugar over and pack down evenly.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour; baking soad and salt. Stir to mix. Spoon over brown sugar in jar; press down evenly.
4. Pour candies over flour mixture and place lid on jar.

For the gift tag:

Colorful Candy Cookies

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Empty contents of jar into large bowl.
2. Add butter and eggs.
3. Beat by hand, so you don't break candies, until dough is throughly mixed.
4. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until edges are browned.
5. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack. (Makes 3 to 3 1/2 dozen).

Mint Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients for jar:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 cup mint chocolate chips

Instructions for jar:

1. Place sugar in 1-quart jar and spoon brown sugar over sugar.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Spoon mixture over brown sugar.
3. Spoon cocoa over flour mixture, add chocolate chips on top and press gently to fit.

For the gift tag:

Mint Chocolate Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Empty contents of jar into large bowl.
3. Beat egg with vanilla and butter.
4. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients in bowl and stir well.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet.
6. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes.

My results:

Ok, I posted earlier about the disastrous first recipe I tried with the rum balls. But the other three were perfect. They worked just as described and turned out very cute indeed.

As you will see, I made the gift tags with the title on the front and the directions on the back. Each tag was die-cut from a paint chip from the hardware store and then embellished with some glittery floral stickers, then tied onto the jars with some pretty white ribbon. The jars were topped with circles of quilting fabric that I cut with pinking shears for a little ruffled edge. To keep the ribbons on the jar, I put a bit of scrapping adhesive on them in three or four spots so they wouldn't slip and slide on the jar rings.

Here are the photos. First up, the Hearty Trail Mix Cookies:


And a peek under the fabric shows the layering with the raisins, coconut and M&M's.


Next up is the Colorful Candy Cookies:


And a peek under the fabric top reveals the pretty M&M's.


Third is the Mint Chocolate Cookies:

Peek under the fabric:


And last but not least, the Mocha Rum Balls posted about earlier:





And just for kicks, here's the photo of the finished gift all together once again. These gifts-in-a-jar sell at craft fairs for around $10 a jar, so this is a great way to save money and have a fun, personalized gift for someone. I hope you'll give these a try and let me know how it works for you. Enjoy and be sure to check back tomorrow for more recipe fun!

Sneak Peek

Well, I THOUGHT I was well prepared, but turns out I was wrong... We're out of town this weekend for a bridal shower and to visit family and I thought I had typed up the recipes on my computer so I could post them while we away, but turns out I only got PART of them. So you'll have to wait until we get home tomorrow night to get the actual recipes for this post. I am, however, going to post a sneak peek for what I'll be posting since I DO have the pictures with me! Anyway, here's your sneak peek... This is the gift that I made up for my sister's bridal shower that was yesterday morning. She had registered for cookie sheets, etc. and so I decided to make a "kit" with the cookie sheets, cookie scoop, adjust-a-cup, and a couple of spatulas and then added 4 "cookies in a jar" mixes that are the kind that you just dump into a bowl and add a couple of things to make cookies. So here's the gift photo for which I'll post the jar mixes when we get back home:


I also picked up a couple of new cookbooks on our trip, so I'll have to share about those purchases when I get home as well... one is from the famous Bluebonnet Cafe in Marble Falls, Texas! So be sure and check back tomorrow!

Today's trial a flop...

SO today I was working on some gifts in a jar for a wedding shower present (Jen if you're reading this, DON'T!) and the first recipe I tried was a complete flop in the sense that it did not work as described... I'll post the recipe, but explain what I did in the end so as not to waste ingredients :) This recipe, along with three others that I will post about in future blog entries, comes from the Ultimate Gifts for the Cookie Jar by Cookbook Resources LLC. All the recipes in this book are meant to be mixes which you layer in mason jars and then give as gifts. This particular recipe is for Rum Balls. Here's a link to the book on Amazon if you'd like a copy (there is no image of the book on the site so forgive the text only link...):

Ultimate Gifts for the Cookie Jar

Now, let me preface this by saying that the other three recipes from the book that I have tried did NOT suffer from the particular problem that this recipe did, so don't let it dissuade you from trying the others, but I think there may have been either a misprint or some other issue with this particular recipe which caused the problem I'll explain below. Here's the recipe as printed in the book:

The Recipe:

Rum Balls

Consider this spirit-filled recipe for the holidays! For a truly unique gift that's sure to be a hit, combine the jar of cookie mix in a decorative holiday basket with a small bottle of rum.

Ingredients for jar:

• 3 cups crushed vanilla wafer cookies
• 1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Instructions for jar:

• Put crushed vanilla wafers in 1 quart (1 L) jar.
• Layer cocoa powder and then powdered sugar over crushed cookies.
• Top with chopped pecans.

Instructions for making cookies:

• 3 tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup rum (or bourbon)
• Powdered or granulated sugar

• Empty contents of jar into large mixing bowl. Stir to mix dry ingredients.
• Stir in corn syrup and rum. Blend until dry ingredients are moist.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in powdered sugar or granulated sugar.

My Results:

Ok, first, let me see if you can figure out why this recipe didn't work out... It is meant for a 1 quart canning jar. 1 quart=4 cups right? And how many cups of ingredients do you see in the recipe? 5 1/2!!! So, no, this WON'T fit into a quart jar, no matter how hard you tamp the ingredients down! Had I thought to look at the math BEFORE beginning the recipe, it might have prevented the unfortunate result, which was that when I got to the adding the cocoa powder step, well, it just did NOT fit! The only thing I can figure is that either, a) it should be three cups of vanilla wafers BEFORE crushing (meaning fewer wafers and therefore less crumbs) or one of the other amounts is off. Either way, because I was doing two of this jar and started with just a single, I was able to simply dump the first jar and the remaining ingredients into a bowl and go ahead and make them up (adding a bit of water and a bit of extra corn syrup since there was not enough moisture to moisten the entire mass). The flavor of these is great, but they are not practical as an "in the jar" gift mix. So if you want to just make up a batch of the mix ingredients in a ziplock baggy for later use or even just make the cookies from the entire recipe, they are worth it, but don't rely on it as a "gift in a jar" recipe...

I did find another rum ball recipe on the Internet that I used for the SECOND jar I made up, and I'm happy to post a link for that one here as well. That recipe DOES fit into the jar quite nicely and should be a hit with the recipient. The Internet recipe is for Mocha Rum Balls Mix in a Jar.

All of these recipes in this book come with photocopy-able tags to put on the jars when giving with the directions for making the cookies from the jarred mix. These make a great gift and I have actually sold jars of similar mixes at craft fairs for $8-10 per jar. Not bad for something that only cost $1-2 to make! Anyway, the other three recipes that I am using from this book for this particular gift worked out much better and I hope you'll check back in to see how they worked out. I'll have to wait a few more days before posting though so that the recipient doesn't accidentally see her gift on the blog before she gets it! Be sure to check back this weekend for more fun recipe play and for a few (hopefully!) great grilling trials with my hubby's help!

Last for today... Snickerdoodles

Well, today was a big baking day...with zwieback, banana bread and finally, Snickerdoodle cookies. These are my 10 month old daughter's favorite cookies so I went on a hunt to find a recipe for them in my books. I have several recipes on my computer and there are lots on the Internet, but I had a hard time finding one in my cookbooks for some reason! Finally found one in the old standby The Joy of Cooking. If you don't have this one on your shelf, do yourself the favor of picking up a copy. It is definitely the "go to" for all your basic recipes and is full of great information on the hows and whys of cooking as well. Here's a link to a copy on Amazon if you would like your own:




The Recipe:


Snickerdoodles

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup sugar

4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets. Whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt until well blended. In a large bowl, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture. In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Shape the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls, roll in the cinnamon sugar, and arrange about 2 3/4 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool. Yields thirty-six 3-inch cookies.



My Results:

For this recipe, I did not substitute any ingredients, however I did alter directions just a little bit. For instance, I beat the butter and sugar for a full two minutes to fully incorporate. I also refrigerated the dough before baking it, partially because the butter was so soft and partially because my little E woke up right as I finished mixing the dough. So I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and stashed it in the fridge for about an hour while I played with her, then got back to making the cookies. Here are my ingredients:



And a photo of my dough, ready to be wrapped up for the fridge:



Here are the balls of dough ready for the oven. I used a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop to make them uniform and even though the recipe says it only makes about 36, I got 47 cookies out of the dough, not counting a little bit of dough shrinkage ;)



Finally, here are the baked cookies, cooling for 5 minutes before being removed to the rack to finish cooling:



And of course I can't resist sharing a photo of the joy on my little E's face as she eats her first bite of homemade Snickerdoodles... I call it Snickerdoodlishous!




And that, my friends, is the end of day one of this year long journey! That last photo makes it all worth while... I hope you've enjoyed reading along with me and will give a try to some of these recipes. Tune in tomorrow for an adventure in Thailand...something from one of my Thai cookbooks!