Snickerdoodles

Time's running out for me to finish my food bucket list for the year...Who knew 2015 was gonna just zip me by... Just like that!!! It's November already and I have 15 things left on the list. With my head hanging in shame,  I must admit I've completed only 3 of the items on the list so far... Sigh... OK with this one, 4.. A small but necessary Yayyy... I'm not giving up yet.

Snickerdoodles!!!!!! I admit the only reason I wanted to try making these is because they sounded adorable!!!!!!. Honestly I had no idea what they were until my good friend google told me they are"a type of cookie made with butter, oil , flour, sugar and rolled in cinnamon sugar". 

The recipe in Nigella 's book, my oh so favourite cookbook of all time How to be a domestic goddess told me they " verge on cakes, neither crisp not flat, and taste like oven baked doughnuts". With a description like that I had to know what snickerdoodles were really all about. For an adorable name like that this recipe is super simple. 

I made these with cocoa, instantly making them chocodoodles, but you can skip the cocoa adjust the flour and make them plain vanilla snickerdoodles too. 

Make sure the butter is really soft when you start out, otherwise it's difficult to get the dough together. I learnt it a bit the hard way. 

Snickerdoodles/Chocodoodles

Ingredients:

250 gms flour (if you want to make plain ones) OR 225 gms flour and 25 gms Cocoa ( If you making chocodoodles)

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

125 gms butter

100 gms castor sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

To roll the cookies

Mix 2 tbsp castor sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon powder. 

In a bowl, beat the sugar and the butter till it turns pale, for about 3-4 minutes.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat till combined. Sift in the flour, cocoa, nutmeg, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine. I used a wooden spoon to combine at first and then gently kneaded it into a sort of dough. 

Now's a good time to preheat the oven. Set it at 180 C. Line a baking tin with baking paper. 

Take small amounts of dough and shape into little walnut sized balls. Before you place them on your baking paper, roll them in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. I found it easy to drop the cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture bowl and just toss around them around in batches, instead of individually. Made the job much faster. Place the sugar rolled cookies on the baking tray and bake for 15 mins. If they're plain ones, they'll turn a golden brown when done, if chocolate ones, take them out when the surface is firm to the touch. 

And that's it. These chewy adorable cookies are ready. I thought they'd make a good addition to a box of homemade Diwali sweets . Hope you try the recipe and if you do, do let me know how they turn out. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the recipes on the blog. Do leave your comments below.