Snickerdoodles

So I had a craving for cookies a week ago and gave in.  I made snickerdoodles.  I don't know why but cookies covered in cinnamon and sugar sounded perfect.

So I went to my cookbooks and found a couple of recipes and picked the best of both of them and made me some cookies.  I found the source recipes in my 'Rosie's Bakery Chocolate packed, Jam filled, Butter-rich, no-holds-barred cookie book' by Judy Rosenberg.  I got this book as a wedding present along with my baking sheets.  I have made glutenous cookies from this book before and had great results.   This is the first time I tried to use it for gluten free ideas though.

This is a combination of the Bakers Best Snickerdoodles and Classic Snickerdoodles recipes.

3 cups gluten free flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon Xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Heat oven to 375.  Prepare baking sheets, I like to use my silicone sheet liners since parchment paper tends to catch on fire in my current oven.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and Xanthan gum together into a bowl.  Set aside. 

Combine cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons of sugar into a small bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy.  I used my hand held mixer at medium speed for about 1 minute.  Scrape the bowl in the middle of creaming and then at the end to ensure everything is combined.

Add the eggs and mix until combined.

Add half the flour mixture and mix.  Scrape the bowl and add the remaining flour and mix until combined.  Taking the dough a Tablespoon, at a time form the dough into balls with your hands.  Put the cookies into the cinnamon sugar and roll to cover (the recipe said to put the cinnamon sugar into a plastic bag, add the cookies and shake to cover, but in the interest of the environment I choose to just roll the cookies in a bowl instead).

Put the cookies 2 inches apart on the sheets and bake for 15-18 minutes.  The cookies should be slightly cracked and the edges crisp.  I did not flatten my cookies so they were still rounded but either way is fine.  They only took about 14 minutes in my oven.  I cooled the cookies on cooling racks so I could use the sheets again.  This recipe made me over 3 dozen cookies.

The main recipe I converted said that if you were not going to eat the cookies right away they should be frozen.  I ignored this and by the next day they were very crispy.  They still tasted the same but had the consistency of biscotti cookies.  Not a bad thing, but not what I was expecting.  However, I brought them into work and they were gone in hours and no one knew they were gluten free.  I am thinking I will try a more traditional sugar cookie recipe the next time.  I did like the addition of the cinnamon into the dough.  Gluten free dough can taste 'different' and I have found that adding cinnamon or nutmeg to cookies or other baked goods can help with the taste factor.  I put both into my pancakes and waffles. 

So this weekend I am going to a party where the theme is pumpkin.  It is a potluck and everyone has to bring an item made with pumpkin.  So I should have pumpkin soup and pumpkin muffins in the next few weeks.  I also made a wonder southwestern chicken stew called Pozole.  It is wonderful and just perfect when the weather gets colder.  So look for those recipes coming up soon.