Snickerdoodles for Shyla's Wedding

Snickerdoodles for Shyla's Wedding - made July 27, 2019

I've mentioned earlier that one of my nieces is getting married. I offered to make a cookie dessert bar for the reception and Shyla chose which cookies she wanted me to make: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate macadamia cookies, oatmeal raisin (favorite cookie of Zack, the groom), walnut butter shortbread (although I substitute almonds for the walnuts) and snickerdoodles.

When I visited Shyla and Zack in Denver a few months ago, I tested out a couple of the recipes at the mile-high elevation, in the hotel kitchenette I was going to bake them in. This snickerdoodle recipe held up to the test, although I did end up making my own modifications to the original recipe from The Pinning Mama. I'm a little nervous about making 6 kinds of cookies for over 100 guests, not because of the volume I'm planning on making but because I'm not going to be in my own kitchen with my own equipment or my own ovens. I'm not daunted by making hundreds of cookies or baking them off the day before and day of the wedding. Even if I'm going to do it with only one oven and 2-3 days beforehand to make all the cookie dough and shop for ingredients.

However, I'm also not stupid and one of the reasons I chose this particular snickerdoodle recipe is for its simplicity and because it didn't need cream of tartar. That might sound weird but when you're going to make dozens of cookies and won't be pulling stuff out of your own pantry, the fewer specialized ingredients you need (which, frankly, the non-baking bride and groom aren't going to use after the wedding, haha), the better. Plus, hey, it's still a good snickerdoodle recipe.

When I did the taste test bake in Denver, we learned a couple of important things. First, don't buy the generic, no-name granulated sugar. While it worked fine in the dough itself, using it as the cinnamon-sugar coating for the cookies didn't work at all. The granules were too large to adhere well to the cookies, especially chilled or frozen dough balls. So...no. We're sticking with C&H for the real day. Second, 3 cups of flour is simply too much for the dough at this elevation. I cut it back by 1/4 cup and it worked well. The dough was still easy to work with, the cookies stayed thick and the taste and texture were just fine. I also added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough itself for extra flavor.

I've been making this particular recipe a few times before the wedding as I want to make sure I get the practice in and unearth any potential pitfalls with the recipe now, not right before the wedding. Plus, as I'm used to making behemoth cookies, I had to make "normal-size" cookies with these to figure out how many cookies each recipe will yield. Much as I want to make big-as-your-head cookies for the wedding, I knew that would only lead to waste. People will be eating other things and when given the choice of 6 cookies, you know some guests will take 1 of each kind (those are my tribe) but not be able to finish them all (not my tribe). So cookies the size that normal people who aren't me are what it's going to be. This recipe yields 15 such normal-sized cookies. You could possibly make them smaller but I wanted to make them thick enough to still have the texture I like in these cookies. So 15 it is.

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 egg
2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Coating
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon (or more or less if you prefer)

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste and mix to combine briefly. Add egg and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add to butter-sugar mixture in two additions, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overbeat.
3. Portion dough into thick discs, golf-ball-size or smaller, whichever your preference.
4. Cover dough balls and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Coat each dough ball completely in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are set and middles no longer look doughy or raw. Let rest on baking sheets for 2-3 minutes then remove to wire cooling rack to cool completely.