Snickerdoodles
NOTE: These
old-fashioned cookies are dusted with cinnamon sugar and have a
good contrast between crisp exterior and soft, chewy interior.
Makes about 30 cookies.
21/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
11/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Adjust oven racks to upper-and lower-middle positions. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Either by hand or electric mixer, cream butter, shortening, and 11/2 cups sugar until combined, 1 to 11/2 minutes with electric mixer set at medium speed. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Add eggs. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds.
5. Mix remaining 3 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon in shallow bowl. Working with scant 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll dough into 11/2-inch balls. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar and place on cookie sheet, spacing them 2 to 21/2 inches apart.
6. Bake, reversing position in oven halfway through baking time, until edges of cookies are beginning to set and centers are soft and puffy, 9 to 11 minutes. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling rack with wide spatula.