#3: "I almost went out and bought cream..."

I promised my kids baked goods at sometime. Having made the mistake of discussing both my journey into blogging, as well as my failed attempts at baking prior to my project, my 4th graders wanted physical proof that I'm actually starting to feel a little more confident in the kitchen. At this point, I was already feeling a little "chocolated out"... actually, that's not true at all. I absolutely believe a woman can never TIRE of chocolate, but I did kind of figure that I should probably branch out A LITTLE. With that being said, last Sunday, I had started to run down my game plan with Nichelle concerning the next few weeks baking timeline, and what sort of projects I wanted to tackle. I mentioned that my kids were requesting baked goods, and what came to mind? Snickerdoodles! Everyone loves those, and as luck would have it, Nichelle just happened to have a recipe she swore up and down was THE BEST she'd ever had. I'd have to be the judge of that:

Snickerdoodles (as created following Mrs. Parrish's world famous recipe)

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups of sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
3 tablespoons of baking powder
1 cup of melted butter
2 eggs
*TOPPING: 4 teaspoons of cinnamon
4 tablespoons of sugar

Directions:

1. Mix and sift flour, salt, and baking powder
     - Um, yeah, I couldn't find a... sifter (I know there is an actual word for that particular tool, but it escapes me at the moment), so I went ahead and mixed the three ingredients really well with a fork, and guess what? It seemed to work just fine, suckers.
2. Cream and sugar until fluffy
     - If you're like me, you just saw this step and went, um, excuse me? There's no cream in this recipe! Yeah, for us non-bakers out here, the verb "to cream" means nothing to us. I stood there for a good three minutes trying to decipher what Nichelle and Mrs. Parrish meant by "cream and sugar." I almost went out and bought cream. Luckily, being the problem-solver I attempt to be, I assumed that the cream was the only dairy product in the recipe- the butter. In Kristen terms, to "cream" means to melt the butter in a bowl, add the sugar, and beat the two together until they fluff up. There you have it, you're welcome! I just saved you a big-old headache (PS- Nichelle didn't come home and laugh until she cried over this story... humph). The picture below shows my "fluffy" butter and eggs, so you understand the consistency they want:

 

3. Add beaten eggs and mix
     - How this recipe had me dirtying a bowl for the dried ingredients, the butter and sugar, AND the eggs, I'll never know.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix
     - I added the wet ingredients to the dry a little at the time, since that bowl was bigger.
5. Chill in fridge
     - I think I had the bowl sitting in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I kind of forgot. I started making dinner at this particular time, and wasn't entirely paying attention.
6. Mold the dough into balls, and roll into the topping.
    - I made my balls a little smaller than golf ball sized. I had some major issues with the proportions in the topping though. When I followed the recipe, there was waaaaay too stinkin' much cinnamon, so much so that the sugar was completely overpowered by it. I went ahead and added another 2 tablespoons or so of sugar, so I suppose the topping is kind of up to your own tastes. My topping looked like this:

7. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees
     - I did 11 minutes, and it worked perfectly. Crunchy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside.

Another successful project tackled. These cookies were wonderful. Nichelle was right, they were probably the best snickerdoodles I've ever tasted, not to toot my own horn or anything. Unfortunately, the two of us chose to have guests over that night, so there weren't enough for my kids... but we got to enjoy them. That's a win in my book. Plus, I still have another 22 days with my munchkins, I'll bring something out to them SOMETIME!

Picture proof they were great: a half eaten cookie. Yes, I know I need a fill, shuuuuush.