Cookie Butter Snickerdoodles

So, I have to admit, I am a little bit late to the cookie butter party.  But here I am!  I tend to resist major trends because I really don't like doing what everyone else is doing just because everyone else is doing it.  I like to do my own thing, whatever I want because I want to, and who cares what anyone else thinks?  So cookie butter.  Finally I tried it, and it was kind of awesome.  Then I got the crunchy kind and it was kind of really awesome.  So cookies happened.  And they are also kind of awesome.  Be warned... a jar of cookies and cream hazelnut spread just made its way to my pantry, so something of that ilk may be coming this way soon.  Recipe adapted from here.

Cookie Butter Snickerdoodles

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup cookie butter
6 Tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter, shortening, cookie butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and egg, and beat until smooth.  Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves, and beat until just blended.

In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tablespoons of sugar, and the cinnamon.  Scoop the dough into tablespoon size balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place on the prepared baking sheet and flatten very slightly with your fingers (you want thick disc shapes instead of balls, so just flatten the rounded top).  Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until just barely golden brown at the edges.  Remove cookies from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.  Makes about 24 cookies.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Pumpkin Butter Snickerdoodles and Apple Butter Snickerdoodles

I've never really liked pumpkin cookies very much because they always turn out cakey. I like my cookies chewy or crispy.  If I want cake, I'll have it with frosting and not as a cookie.  So I've seen a few cookie recipes here and there use pumpkin butter instead of pumpkin puree, which apparently gives a chewier, less cakey texture.  I'm totally game for trying that out.  A friend asked me to make pumpkin snickerdoodles, so I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to try them out with pumpkin butter. Here's the thing though.  I didn't have much pumpkin butter, but I had a large jar of apple butter, so I decided to experiment with the apple butter first to make sure I had a good recipe.  Which means I have Pumpkin Butter Snickerdoodles as well as Apple Butter Snickerdoodles.  Both are perfectly soft and chewy and delicious!  For the Pumpkin, just use pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice.  For the Apple, just use apple butter and apple pie spice.  Otherwise, the recipes are identical!

Pumpkin Butter Snickerdoodles and Apple Butter Snickerdoodles

Cookies:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup Pumpkin Butter (or Apple Butter)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour 

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (or Apple Pie Spice)

Spiced Sugar:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (or Apple Pie Spice)

 Preheat the oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, pumpkin butter (or apple butter), granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, until incorporated.  Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice (or apple pie spice), and beat on low just until incorporated.  

For the cinnamon sugar, combine the sugar and pumpkin pie spice (or apple pie spice) in a small bowl.  Scoop the dough into tablespoon size balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place dough on the prepared baking sheet with enough room in between for the cookies to spread.  Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, or until slightly puffed and cracked on the top.  Remove cookies from the oven and let cool for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Makes about 60 cookies.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles

Every Sunday I make cookies for church.  There are some people who go early to have meetings before church actually starts, so I make cookies for them.  I've been doing this for a while now, and new inspiration is always welcome, so I've been letting people know that I take requests.  My first request came in last week for peanut butter snickerdoodles, and I was so excited!  I searched for a recipe, but came up empty on what I was specifically looking for.  I found this recipe, and modified it to suit my needs.  What a brilliant cookie idea!  These soft and chewy peanut butter cookies are lightly spiced with cinnamon, and rolled in a mixture of sugar and Vietnamese cinnamon for an extra spicy cinnamon bite! 

Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles

Cookies:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup peanut butter 

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour 

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Cinnamon Sugar:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons Vietnamese cinnamon (you can substitute regular cinnamon)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, until incorporated.  Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and beat on low just until incorporated.  Cover the dough and chill for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

For the cinnamon sugar, combine the sugar and Vietnamese cinnamon in a small bowl.  Scoop the dough into tablespoon size balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place dough on the prepared baking sheet with enough room in between for the cookies to spread.  Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, or until slightly puffed and cracked on the top.  Remove cookies from the oven and let cool for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Makes about 48 cookies.

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Snickerdoodles

I've never been a "can't live without" snickerdoodles fan.  In fact, I can count the number of times I have made them on one hand.  Don't get me wrong, I definitely like snickerdoodles, they just don't ever come to my mind when I think about what kind of cookies to bake.  I do adore white chocolate and cinnamon together, as evidenced by this cake, and couldn't resist adding some white chocolate chips to my snickerdoodles.  Then I decided, why stop there?  Let's really make these cookies over the top and add macadamia nut.  This is definitely my new go to snickerdoodle recipe, with or without white chocolate chips and macadamias.  It is probably the best incarnation I have ever tasted. The addition of vegetable shortening, instead of all butter lets these cookies spread the perfect amount, and the Vietnamese cinnamon is perfectly strong and sharp.  Absolutely delicious.  One quick note: there is no vanilla in these cookies.  This is not a mistake.  I may have panicked a little when I left out vanilla, but trust me, it is a good choice.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Snickerdoodles

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon Vietnamese cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a shallow dish, combine the 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs until incorporated.  Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt and beat until just combined.  Stir in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the dough into balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture until completely and evenly coated.  Place cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned and the center is just set but still soft and puffy.  Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on the pan for about 5 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Makes 24 cookies.  

Enjoy!  -Cardamommy

Snickerdoodles

Today I needed a fast, easy cookie recipe that  1.) didn't require a trip to the store to get special ingredients, and 2.) that would be loved, accepted, approved of, and eaten by both an FHE family and a relief society. Completely stumped and in a bind, I texted Chemist Cuisinier, PhD, who--once again--saved me by suggesting I make snickerdoodles. I went back to my The Great Cookie Book book and tossed together a recipe for snickerdoodles. As per usual, I did a test cookie--thank goodness! What I pulled out of the oven was more of a snickerpuddle than a snickerdoodle. Bring on the flour! I ended up adding about 1/3 C more flour and increasing the bake time by a few minutes. Once I had the correct amount of flour and the bake time, everything was fabulous! Slightly chewy on the outside, very soft on the inside. Perfectly sweet with a balance of cinnamon and slight tang/tart. Both FHE family and Relief Society gobbled them all up. It only took me the length of Star Wars IV to make these (that's including my flour trial), and my reputation as a fabulous cook continues to go untarnished. I will definitely be making these again.

1 1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C Margarine or Butter, softened
1/2 C Shortening
2 Eggs
2 3/4 C All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
3 T Sugar, for rolling
3 tsp Ground Cinnamon, for rolling

1. Heat over to 350
2. In a large bowl mix sugar, margarine or butter, shortening and eggs thoroughly. Stir in flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt until blended. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfulls into balls.
3. In a small bowl mix 3 T sugar and the cinnamon, roll balls in sugar mixture.
4. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Mahlzeit!
-Coriaunty