Classic Snickerdoodles

This one's for my grandma.

No, my grandma (on my dad's side) never baked for us. I don't have hand-me-down recipes from her or memories of us with flour-dusted faces rolling out dough together in the kitchen. She was born in French Algeria and had to learn English and married my grandpa who was in the Navy, so she's got her own stories instead. But she loves the fact that I love to bake. So on our last visit she commanded me to bring her cookies the next time. I was happy to oblige.

My grandma doesn't really have a favorite type of cookie, but after consulting with my parents we decided something somewhat mild, soft, but still delicious was in order. I'd always wanted to try making Snickerdoodles, so this seemed a perfect opportunity. Following a recipe from the book Crazy About Cookies by Krystina Castella that my awesome coworker Miss Pat gave me, I was able to deliver a beautiful batch of cinnamon-dusted sweets!

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment (not wax) paper. Then in a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.

2.) In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until it's fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla (usually electric mixers are recommended for this, but I tend to just use a fork and my own muscle as best I can).

3.) Slowly add the flour mix to the butter mix and stir together. Use your hands to shape the dough into small balls, about 2-inches in diameter. Roll them in a mixture of the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the 2 Tablespoons of cinnamon (I find stirring the two together in a small paper bowl ahead of time works well).

4.) Set the balls of dough on the cookie sheet and flatten just slightly. Bake for 12-14 minutes (that's what the recipe called for, but I did about 8-11 minutes so they wouldn't burn) until lightly browned around the edges. Let cool and top with more cinnamon sugar mix as needed.

These did receive praise from their intended recipient, and a request for more cookies at our next visit!

My brother's girlfriend, my brother, me, my grandma, and my brother.
On this visit I brought Peanut Butter Cookies!