Last week I saw this post in my facebook thread . . .
The BittenWord guys were at it again!
I have read about their cover-to-cover challenges but never participated in one. This time I took the plunge, filled out the form and pushed send. I was a bit worried - while we bake at lot at Christmas time we have limits - we don't generally bake finicky cookies with a gazillion steps of complex decorations. Given that the cookie recipe would be assigned randomly all I could do was hope for the best.
My assignment arrived by e-mail on Friday:
Thanks so much for agreeing to participate in the 2014 Cover to Cover Project: Holiday Cookies! We’re thrilled to have you join us in this little baking adventure.
Your Assigned Cookie Recipe Is:
Cocoa Snickerdoodles
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/cocoa-snickerdoodles.html
A snickerdoodle is a type of cookie made with butter or oil, sugar, and flour rolled in cinnamon sugar. Eggs may also sometimes be used as an ingredient, with cream of tartar and baking soda added to leaven the dough.
There is disagreement as to where these cookies originated. The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudel ("snail noodles"), a kind of pastry. It is also possible that the name is simply a nonsense word with no particular meaning, originating from a New England tradition of whimsical cookie names (presumably that is where 'whoopie pies' came from . . .).
Paul loves snickerdoodles and when we're in the US he'll buy one in any bakery we're in that makes them. The only time I have seen them in Canada is when we make them ourselves.
I was happy to take on this challenge.
Yesterday when we returned home from Toronto I was torn between a well-deserved nap and baking. Baking won out. These cookies were first on my list. They were easy to pull together and the final result was amazing - the combination of chocolate and cinnamon was amazing - almost ike a Mexican hot chocolate from my favourite chocolate shop SOMA.
The only challenge was that I had no sanding sugar. I had regular sugar, super fine sugar, and sparkling sugar but no sanding sugar. In fact, sanding sugar is hard to find here. I ended up using the sparkling sugar and whirling it in the food processor a bit to break up some of the crystals. The end result was likely more crunchy than it would have been because of that crunch of sugary goodness . . .mind you, who is complaining about THAT?
Cocoa Snickerdoodles
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup white sanding sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until fluffy, about 2 more minutes.
Beat in the egg and vanilla; reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined.
Combine the sanding sugar and cinnamon in a small shallow bowl.
Form heaping tablespoonfuls of dough into balls with damp hands; toss in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Arrange about 3 inches apart on 2 baking sheets.
Bake, switching the pans halfway through, until the cookies are set around the edge, 9 to 11 minutes.
Let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
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