ALMOST SNICKERDOODLES

What is that saying…necessity is the mother of invention? Well, the other day, I set out to make Girlichef’s Snickerdoodle cookie recipe. I was almost finished with the dough, when hubby came into the kitchen and glanced at the recipe. He looked at me and said, “cinnamon, huh?” one of those semi-non-committal offerings that tells me (after 38 years of marriage) that he would rather I made his beloved peanut butter cookies. Now…what to do; I have the cookie batter 75% done, so there was no backing out. Solution? I put the cinnamon back in the pantry and added vanilla extract, butter extract and rolled them in plain sugar. The results were huge 4” sugar cookies that hubby is thoroughly enjoying. Whew!

So, here is Dar’s recipe with a couple of hubby approved changes:

2¼ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup butter flavored Crisco
1½ cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
white sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 400° and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In stand mixer, cream butter and Crisco until light and creamy (about 1½ minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add eggs and extracts; continue to beat another 30 seconds. Mix all dry ingredients together and add to butter-egg mixture. Mix just until combined (about 20 seconds).

Roll dough into 1½” balls (a slightly heaping tablespoon full) and roll in plain white sugar. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes and immediately transfer to a baking rack to cool.
NOTE: These are big 4” cookies, so do not place them too close together on the cookie sheet (they spread). If you want smaller cookies, just make the dough balls smaller.
NOTE: If you want to frost these cookies, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon almond extract, 2 teaspoons milk and 1½ cups of powdered sugar (whisk until smooth). You can add a little more milk if it is too thick or another spoon of powdered sugar if it is too thin.