Nom.Nom.Nom.

16th May 2010

Today Esther told me that I need to start learning to cook and clean “because you never know what might happen.” What she really meant was, “hopefully someone will marry you and you can’t be this useless when you’re married.” Obviously I explained that I won’t be getting married anytime soon and that when I do, I will employ someone to do these menial tasks for me. If employing scores of servants/having a live-in mother are not a possibility, my husband will cook and clean and do all the un-fun married chores. He will also wear suits and be good at everything. If that doesn’t work out then I can always live at home for the rest of my life, sponging of my parents and never paying back my student loan. I haven’t yet decided which path my life is going to take...

Anyway, I digress. Instead of learning how to cook, I decided to bake cookies. Ok, so they’re not “real food” but who cares? I know how to boil pasta. Chicken is fairly easy to cook and Betty Crocker Chocolate cake comes with idiot proof instructions. One day I will attempt to make a Sunday Dinner, but apparently your mother’s Sunday Dinners are always the best, so why even try? The one thing that I can actually do is make Snickerdoodles – and they’re actually really yummy! They taste like Christmas and happiness and all the good things in the world (which really isn’t a surprise given the amount of butter and sugar in the recipe). I fist tried these bad boys when I was living in America, Steve and Trish, the people I lived with had a really good recipe (which is probably better than mine) and when they made them I would eat the entire batch. I’m sure they loved having me as a guest! Anyway, this is the recipe that I used – it was from an American website, so I worked out the equivalent measurements/ingredients.



Snickerdoodles

1 Cup of Butter (225g)
1 ½ Cups of Caster Sugar (337.5g – don’t worry about being exact, that .5 of a gram won’t make a difference)
2 Large Eggs
2 ¾ Cups of Flour (412.5g – again, it’s not a life or death measurement)
2 Teaspoons of Cream of Tartar
1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda (In the U.K this is called Sodium Bicarbonate)
¼ Teaspoon of Salt
3 Tablespoons of Sugar
3 Teaspoons of Cinnamon


• Preheat oven to 350°F. (In the U.K this is gas mark 4 or else 180°C.)

• Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl. You can use an electric mixer for this, I’m hard core and do it by hand (but really that’s just because I don’t know how to use the mixer.) It also helps if the butter is softer – try microwaving it for a few seconds!



• Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

• Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture. Again you can use an electric mixer for this.

• Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet (a flat baking tray for all the Brits out there) for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

• Scoop into 1 inch globs of dough.




• Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture. I roll the dough into little balls in the palm of my hand and then add them to the sugar/cinnamon mixture – it makes them much easier to work with.



• Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet (baking tray), and bake for 10 minutes. When I put the balls on the tray I slightly flatten them with the palm of my hand – you don’t need to crush them, but if they’re a little flatter they come out better.



• Remove from pan immediately and place on cooling rack.




If you follow this recipe you shouldn’t go too wrong. I make mine quite small/thin but the occasional fat one is also good! I cook them at just below 160°C as my oven is really hot and I only cook them for 7-8 minutes. I guess it’s trial and error and different people like different things – some people say to wait until the cookies are golden brown but when they cool they’re quite hard. I prefer it when they’re soft and chewy so that’s why I cook them for a shorter period of time. I wait until they start to firm up but before they’re golden brown – you can check if they’re cooked by poking them in the middle (with a cocktail stick, not your fingers) and if it comes out clean (i.e not gloopy) then they’re done! After the first tray you should know if you’re on the right track and if you’re not, then hopefully you’ll know what’s gone wrong and you can correct yourself!



These really are the nicest cookies I’ve ever tasted –the only cookies that come close are Trish’s Chocolate Chip Cookies – one day I’ll master them too :)

Good Luck! And one last thing, try one when they’re right out of the oven with a glass of milk – I’m actually really excited for some other people to try these. Your life will be changed forever :)



Xx

P.S Crilly had nothing to do with baking these cookies, I just thought I'd include her to show you all how fun it is to drink milk!