Snickerdoodles

Back in the 70's I lived in Omaha, Nebraska.  I had a neighbor directly across the street who was truly amazing.  She had four children, made all their clothes, including their pajamas and leisure suits for her husband, cooked a wonderful meal every night, and made cookies in the morning before her kids went to school so she could put fresh cookies in their lunches.  I once asked her how she managed to get all this done and she said, "Oh, I just do it around the edges!"  I asked her what that meant, and she explained that she did things in found moments during her day.  For example, when she drove someone to soccer practice, she came home and used the time to cut out two shirts for her son.  I would have sat and read a magazine until it was time to pick them up, because it never would have occurred to me that I could cut out shirts in that little bit of time.  I learned a lot from her, and soon I too was doing things "around the edges". I have even been known, on occasion, to bake cookies before my kids went to school! She shared several wonderful recipes with me and this one, for snickerdoodles, is one of my favorites.  (Another one is omelet bread, which I will share with you closer to the holidays.)

This is a very old cookie recipe, dating back to the 1800's. I discovered this because I was doing a presentation at a local quilt shop on a quilt made during the Civil War.  I wanted to serve a snack similar to what would have been made during that time period. I did some research and came up with the snickerdoodle!  Well since I already had my neighbor's recipe, that was a no brainer!  I have made these cookies with each of my children and grandchildren from an early age because you can give them a bowl of cinnamon sugar and plop the cookie ball in, and they can shake away.  Enough said, here is the recipe.  It makes about 5 dozen cookies.

1 c shortening (some recipes call for half butter and half shortening, I just like how the shortening ones turn out)
1 1/2 c sugar ( I have made them with only 1 cup of sugar and they are still good)
2 eggs
2  3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4  tsp salt

topping: 
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a mixer, cream shortening and sugar together, add eggs and continue to mix.  Then add dry ingredients and mix well.  Roll dough into balls about the size of a walnut and put the dough ball into a bowl in which you have mixed the cinnamon and sugar. Shake or spin the bowl.  (This is the part the kids do.)  Place about 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8 - 10 minutes.  I bake mine about 9 minutes because we like them soft.   Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack.

Try this with your kids!  Enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Carol
a.k.a Nonnie