Last week, i reviewed the Quick Bread recipe by Fine Cooking. If you are interested in this recipe, check the review out Here.
I have no memories of eating snickerdoodle cookies in my childhood. While I was growing up, I can confidently say I never ate any homemade cookies. My mother however did buy a wide variety of biscuits which I enjoyed. The closest I ever came to eating something similar to a snickerdoodle was eating a Speculoos biscuit that she bought. I loved the spices in the Speculoos cookies. While craving something similar in my later years I came across the snickerdoodle.
I have no memories of eating snickerdoodle cookies in my childhood. While I was growing up, I can confidently say I never ate any homemade cookies. My mother however did buy a wide variety of biscuits which I enjoyed. The closest I ever came to eating something similar to a snickerdoodle was eating a Speculoos biscuit that she bought. I loved the spices in the Speculoos cookies. While craving something similar in my later years I came across the snickerdoodle.
My first attempt at making snickerdoodle cookies was beautiful. However, the cookie paled in comparison to my beloved Speculoos cookie.
I attempted making the cookie again using Mrs Siggs recipe from AllRecipes. I have had varying results from making little and not so little changes to this recipe every time I make use of it.
-Using the recipe as it is
-Using margarine instead of shortening
-Eliminating cream of tartar
-Chilling dough before baking
-Flattening dough ball before baking
-Adding chips and nuts to dough
-Substituting some flour with oat flour
-Using self rising flour instead of all purpose flour
- Using the recipe as it is
Mrs Sigg’s snickerdoodle cookie recipe is easy to follow. The first time I made this though, I felt like I did something very wrong. This cookie dough is better called a ‘batter’ as it was very loose and quite hard to scoop. To counter this problem, I used a tablespoon that had been dipped in water to portion out my cookies on a baking tray.
If you wish, you can chill the cookie dough to make it easier to scoop out. I baked the cookies for 10 minutes as directed the first time and almost burnt the cookies. On my second attempt I baked the cookies for 8 minutes at 200c. Then, I switched of my oven and left it in for another 5 minutes before putting the cookies on a cooling rack.
This cookie was not mind-blowing. I could taste the shortening, a slick feeling was left on the roof of my mouth after I had these cookies. I tried to ignore the mouth feel but was met with the ‘off taste’ of the cream of tartar. While it was not used liberally, everyone in my family stopped chewing to ask what that awful taste was. I baked this severally but I always tasted it so I stopped adding it.
The other problem I had was that this recipe incredibly sweet. This recipe produced a sugar fest cookie. Texture-wise, this cookie was crisp on the outside but still nice and chewy on the inside.
- Eliminating the cream of tartar
On another attempt, I omitted the cream of tartar in this recipe and baked as directed. My first observation was that I did not get the signature snickerdoodle cookie crackle on top. However, the cookie tasted great minus the off putting taste of the leavening agent. The texture remained the same.
- Chilling the dough before baking
After I mixed Mrs siggs Snickerdoodle cookie recipe, I noted that this cookie was very loose and difficult to scoop. I divided the recipe into 2 and put one half in the freezer all night just because I could not bake it that night.
I portioned out the cookie dough at room temperature using a wet table spoon. Even then, i was still unable to roll them into balls because of how wet this dough was. While baking, this dough spread out quite a bit and rose considerably. When baked and cooled, the height of the cookie fell and I had a snickerdoodle cookie that spread but was not very fluffy.
The next day, I portioned the frozen dough using a tablespoon and rolled them into balls. After rolling the dough into balls, I arranged these balls on a baking tray and left them on the kitchen counter to come back to almost room temperature(I did not flatten these out). These cookies spread less and rose higher, it tasted nice but it was just a little fluffier than that baked at room temperature. Go with what you prefer.
- Adding chips and nuts to the dough
If you wish to enhance the flavour profile of Mrs siggs snickerdoodle cookie and make it yours, you can add a nut of your choice to the dough before baking. I do not recommend adding baking baking chips to this recipe for 2 reasons.
The first reason being that this recipe is already a sugar bomb. The addition of baking chips would be an overkill in my opinion. The second reason is that due to the nature of the recipe and the heat used in baking these cookies, the chips may burn before the cookie is fully baked. If you insist on adding baking chips, try freezing them before adding them to this dough. You can also add the chips to the top of the cookies before baking. If you do not wish to do either of the above recommended, bake the cookies at a lower temperature until done. This last recommendation requires some trial and error.
- Substituting some flour for oat flour
During one of my health kick weeks, I made this cookie recipe with oat flour. To make this recipe even remotely healthier, I substituted ¾ of flour the recipe called for with flour . The amount of sugar in the recipe defeated my efforts though. The resulting snickerdoodle cookies still tasted nice but where thick, drier and had a less appealing texture. I came to realize later on that by making that substitution, I was creating a whole other recipe. Furthermore, the cookies did not spread much when I used oat flour. I do not recommend this at all. If you wish to attempt this, the use of half AP flour and half oat flour is sure to give better results.
- Substituting all purpose flour for self rising flour
After I tried using oat flour in this recipe, I moved on to use SF flour in place of all purpose flour in this recipe. I baked these cookies as directed and I got cookies that rose a bit higher and were a little salty. I used gold medal self rising flour and will not use this to make these cookies again. This is because of my inability to control the amount of leavening agent and salt used). I do not recommend this substitution.
Overall Observation
I do not think Mrs Siggs snickerdoodle cookies recipe is the best. Even without making any changes, this recipe was very hit or miss. I could taste the cream of tarter in it. Some of my taste testers said it was too sweet and did not love it.
If you want a foolproof snickerdoodle cookies recipe, i think you should give this a pass. While this recipe has some amazing reviews on allrecipes, i am disappointed.
Get this recipe here.
Get this recipe here.
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