Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles

Holiday baking has begun!

My apologies for the scarcity of blog entries this month, I can't believe how busy I've been! It's been a particularly hectic holiday season over here in Northeastern Kentucky. Fun, but busy. Now that baking has commenced, I've got several Christmas treats to share with you. First and foremost are the hubby's favorite cookie, the snickerdoodle.

Snickerdoodles are normally a breeze. Normally. I had quite the first day of Christmas baking to kick off the holiday season yesterday, however. Anyone receiving my snickerdoodles this year just know you are being presented with a labor of love. I was in the middle of making a double batch of snickerdoodles, which is 9 dozen cookies, mind you. I was just about finished creaming my 4 sticks of butter with 4 cups of sugar when my hand mixer up and died. It did the metaphorical swan dive, right then and there. I was flabbergasted. I made the ill-informed decision to soldier ahead by hand. I still had to mix in the eggs, the milk, the vanilla, and then the flour mixture. Whew! It now makes sense to me why people started using pre-packaged cookie dough. At least it makes sense to my arm, which is dead this morning from dragging a wooden spoon through sticky cookie dough.

I was planning on making sugar cookies yesterday as well, but after the mixer died, I had some choice words about that. I decided to foray ahead with a cookie that didn't need a mixer. That story, however, will have to wait until tomorrow. It also has some cookie induced panic.

In conclusion, the snickerdoodles turned out fine, even with the turn of events. Yesterday's events have changed the course of today, though. I now have to stop at Walmart and get a hand mixer. I hate Walmart the majority of the year, I despise Walmart at Christmas time. With a grumble in my throat, a heavy heart, and a pitchfork to keep crazed holiday shoppers at bay, I will go. All for you, friends and family :)

Ingredients (makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies):

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly coat 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Mix in eggs. Mix in milk and vanilla.
3. In a separate large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and 2 tsp cinnamon. Whisk to combine. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Mix until just combined.
4. Combine remaining 3 tbsp sugar with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Using a 1 tbsp cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough out and roll into balls. Roll into cinnamon sugar and place cookie on cookie sheet. I can fit 12 snickerdoodles on a cookie sheet, they don't spread much. Flatten the cookie slightly with a fork.
5. Bake in preheated oven 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack, and cool completely before storage.

Recipe courtesy of Southern Living