Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles

Vanilla Bean Snickerdoodles - made dough April 9, 2017 from Cookies & Cups by Shelly Jaronsky

I’d been making so many batches of my favoritesnickerdoodle recipe for my niece’s fundraiser that I finally cracked and tried a new recipe just to do something different for the same cookie. I’m not big on making the same recipe over and over again because I always want to try something new. Which is one reason why I’ve never worked in a bakery or had my own small business selling baked goods. I’m not sure I could handle making the same things all the time.

I went back to my Cookies & Cups baking book to try out this recipe for vanilla bean snickerdoodles. It was pretty straightforward and I used vanilla bean paste in place of buying vanilla beans and scraping out the seeds from the pods. Vanilla bean paste is much easier to use. Vanilla beans are so expensive that I only tend to use them for things like crème brulee where you also soak the pod itself after scraping out the seeds to get more vanilla flavor. Otherwise I make do with vanilla bean paste and fortified vanilla extract (from Penzey’s, where else?)

This made decently good snickerdoodles. They did spread a bit more than my favorite recipe but the taste was on point and they were good. Mine spread more than the picture in the Cookies & Cups book but it could be because I also made my cookie dough balls bigger. No point in having little cookies. I was making this to put in goodie bags for my niece’s fundraiser donors and wanted them to be a good size since they’re meant to be thank yous for their donation.

1 cup butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 vanilla beans or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar for rolling
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Add whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated.
3. Scrape insides of vanilla beans and add scrapings to dough. If using vanilla bean paste, add to dough and mix.
4. Add the cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and flour. Mix until flour is just incorporated. Do not overmix.
5. Scoop into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon in small bowl. Roll chilled or frozen dough balls in mixture, coating completely. Evenly space on parchment-lined baking sheets, Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly golden and middles are just barely past raw. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes on baking sheet before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.