Snickerdoodles

It's been so exhaustingly hot in Texas lately that the idea of turning on the oven makes me groan and firmly plant myself on the couch with some ice water.  On top of that, everyone wants snickerdoodles!  You expect me to turn on the oven AND make WINTER cookies?  It's a tough life, right?
But then I remembered Deb's recipe over on Smitten Kitchen.
Done.
I'll make you snickerdoodles.
I'll make you snickerdoodles every day of the Summer.
WITH the A/C off.

(Just kidding on the A/C part).



Here's the crazy easy recipe.
My Tips:  -When you're rolling the balls, keep half of the dough in the fridge while you work with the other.
-I used vanilla sugar/ cinnamon to roll them in.  Really amped up the flavor.  I told you that vanilla sugar would pop up everywhere.

Snickerdoodles
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened and cubed
1 1/2 cups sugar + 1/4 cup vanilla sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
3. With an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually add sugar and beat for another 1-2 minutes.
4.  Add eggs, beat until incorporated.  Add 1/2 flour mixture.  Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour.
5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
6. Remove 1/2 of the dough and roll into 1 1/2 tablespoon sized balls.
7.  Roll balls in mixture of 1/4 C vanilla sugar & 2 Tbsp cinnamon.
8. These spread a lot so I just fit 6 cookies per cookie sheet.  Bake at 400F for 8 minutes.  Repeat with remaining dough.

This recipe has everything a great snickerdoodle needs.  Perfect cakey texture.  It's a great sized cookie, but the cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer and keeps the cookie from flattening out too much at that high temp.  I tried a couple experiments with room temp dough vs. freezing them, and with oven temp and cooking times.  Sticking the balls in the freezer for a minute didn't change the way they spread, so no need to do that.  Higher temp/shorter time just made a raw center and burnt edges.  Dropping the temp down too much dried out the cookie.  400F for 8 minutes was perfect. Deb left them in for 10 minutes, but I think my oven knows how impatient I am and cooks things a little faster.