Snickerdoodles!

Snickerdoodles used to be my favorite cookies in the world, and I haven't made any for a long time. I lost an old recipe I had, which I remember being phenomenal, but this one is pretty good too. Good enough that Dave consumed half a tray in about two minutes, then made a new house rule: I am only allowed to bake once a month, lest he get fat. I guess moderation is a concept beyond him.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C shortening
1 1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs (1/2 C eggbeaters)
2 t vanilla extract
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
3 T white sugar
3 t ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream together the butter, shortening, 1 1/2 C sugar, the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You may find it easiest to mix in the last three first, then the flour one cup at a time. This mixing should be done by hand; the consistency of the cookies is drastically different otherwise.

Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon for the topping. You will have to coat each cookie in this, so you will find in much easier to put the cinnamon sugar in a sandwich bag.

You will probably need two cookie sheets going at once, because this makes about 48 cookies. Cover each sheet in parchment paper, it will make you life considerably easier.

Shape the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Roll them lightly between your palms for a few seconds to form them. The dough is very sticky, so make sure to wet your hands with cold water first, and do not roll for too hard or too long, or you will just make a mess. x_x

Drop the dough balls one by one in the sandwich bag, shake it a little to coat in the topping, then place on a cookie sheet. Wasn't that easier than rolling each one?

Bake sheets one at a time for 8 minutes. Only 8. When you take them out the tops of the cookies will have cracked, and in the cracks you may see wet dough. DO NOT cook them longer. They will just harden. You want these to be chewy cookies.

If you are able to put one tray of 12 cookies in every 8 minutes, this shouldn't take you much longer than an hour to do.