Snickerdoodle
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A snickerdoodle is a soft sugar cookie lightly dusted with cinnamon. It has a characteristically crackly surface, and can be crisp or soft, depending on preference. Some variants include nutmeg, raisins, or nuts. Snickerdoodles are a traditional Christmas cookie in North America.
Origins
Snickerdoodles are often claimed to have been invented in the 19th-century United States, but this is disputed — the recipe for the cookies cannot be found in any cookbook of the era. Plenty of recipes for currant cakes and jumbles combining sweet spices, nuts and dried fruits can be found, however, and many of the first snickerdoodle recipes call for these ingredients. Some believe snickerdoodles are a New England recipe with English origins, while others believe they are a creation of the Dutch. While the origin of the name has been lost, it has been speculated that "snick" may be a reference to St. Nicholas.
Alternately, The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word for "crinkly noodles" (schneckennudeln).
Historical Recipes
From the Boston Globe, June 14, 1898, pg. 8:
- Snickerdoodles
- Three quarters of a cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of milk, 3 cups of flour, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon of soda. Mix; drop on a tin in spoonfuls, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and bake in quick oven.
- M. Elizabeth Adams.
From the Idaho Daily Statesman (Boise, Idaho), October 20, 1901, pg. 11:
- "Snickerdoodles" is the somewhat fantastic name of quickly made little cakes especially dear to the children's heart. A recipe for them copied from an old scrapbook says: "Stir together two cups of sugar and half a cup of butter. When creamy, add two well-beaten eggs, then one cup of milk, with a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in it; and, lastly, add two and a half cups of flour, with two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and half a spoonful of salt. Beat the batter thoroughly, and bake in shallow pans, dusting the top of the cake before baking with cinnamon and sugar. Bake fifteen minutes, and when cool cut in squares. This receipt will make two panfuls, which will cut into twenty-four squares."
Recipe
One recipe for the production of snickerdoodle cookies is as follows:
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup soft shortening
- 2 eggs, beaten
An alternative recipe uses only 1 cup sugar and replaces 1/2 cup of the shortening with butter. After those ingredients are mixed, the dough is rolled into 1 tablespoon balls and then rolled in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. They are baked as noted above. Other recipes add honey to the dough, which helps to keep the cookies from becoming too crisp.
Popular Culture
Snickerdoodles have become something of a catchphrase among Veronica Mars fans, since one episode features Veronica secretly baking the cookies for her best friend Wallace.
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