Martha's Snickerdoodles

I had high hopes for these snickerdoodles. I am still looking for the quintessential snickerdoodle recipe, one like the snickerdoodle I had at Fresh Market one day. Soft, chewy, and maybe a little bit cakey. Every one I've baked so far is crunchy, crunchy, crunchy. I wound up ultimately undercooking these a little bit to achieve a little bit of the soft and chewy effect I was going for. It sort of worked, but not quite the way I wanted it to. So, I'm still hunting. I saw that Smitten Kitchen also did Martha's recipe, and found them to be precisely the kind of cookie I want them to be, so I may give it another try with a larger scoop and with chilling the dough a little bit next time. In the meantime, if you have a good snickerdoodle recipe, shoot it my way! You can email me at typeamommyblog(at)gmail(dot)com.

Snickerdoodles
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Makes three dozen 3 to 4-inch cookies. Your mileage will vary by the size scoop you use.

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
2 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 400°, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine. At this point, I chilled the dough for an hour (or you can overnight) before scooping it, because I otherwise found it too difficult to scoop into balls and roll but the original recipe doesn’t find this step necessary.
3. Once dough has chilled, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small ice-cream scoop* to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about five minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. In theory, they can be stored in an airtight container up to one week, but they won't last that long, trust me.

* Martha recommends a size 30 (1 1/4 ounce) ice cream scoop for your cookies.

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