Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles

Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles - made dough September 19, 2013, recipe adapted slightly from Sally's Baking Addiction

I've made some good snickerdoodles in my time (again, baking modesty set way, way aside) so please take me seriously when I say this could be my new favorite snickerdoodle recipe ever. Yes, they're that good. Kudos to Sally's Baking Addiction for coming up with a winner.

It isn't just the taste, although that's pretty excellent too.  I've made good-tasting snickerdoodles before, some with brown butter, some with pudding mix, some with just the core basic ingredients.  They've been good as well. Some have had crisp edges, some chewy middles, some were good enough to combine both. What I liked about this rendition was the cinnamon incorporated into the cookie dough as well as in the traditional cinnamon sugar coating. The cinnamon I use is pretty strong so I cut mine back to 2 teaspoons in the dough itself and that was perfect.

But what really set this apart to reach "most favored recipe" status is they stayed thick.  Honest to goodness, these have been the thickest snickerdoodles I've made that have still retained their chewy texture rather than being a cakey one.  The hard part about making great snickerdoodles (for me anyway) is I can get great flavor and great texture but they still spread thin.  The ones that have stayed thick have had more flour, less flavor, and were more cakey than chewy in texture.  This trumps them all with great flavor, great chewiness and perfect chubbiness. Just don't overbake them or you'll get cakey texture instead.  I baked from frozen dough (as usual) and only baked them until the middles didn't look raw anymore and have perhaps some slight puffiness and a few cracks but not too many.  Don't bake until the middles are fully puffy and have cracks all over - chances are they're overbaked by then.  You want the middles to sink into cragginess after you take them out of the oven. It also helps if you make the cookie dough balls very generously sized.  You want them to be at least a little bigger than the size of golf balls.  When you bake them from frozen dough (freeze without the cinnamon sugar coating then roll them in the coating right before baking), in the time it takes for them to bake, they only spread to the perfect thickness if the dough balls are large enough.  I haven't tried baking smaller-sized cookie dough balls because why tamper with perfection? 

Look how thick this is and the texture isn't cakey

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 and 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I cut it down to 2 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. If baking right away, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
2. Make the topping: toss 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Make the cookies: In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Once smooth, add the sugar on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed. Set aside.
4. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different additions. The dough is quite thick and you may have to stir the rest by hand.
5. Take approximately 2-3 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. You want them to be slightly bigger than golf balls. You can freeze them at this point if you don't plan to bake right away.  When ready to bake, roll the dough balls into the reserved cinnamon-sugar topping. Sprinkle extra cinnamon-sugar on top if desired. Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the middles no longer look raw. The cookies will be very puffy and soft.  Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.