Snickerdoodle recipe

By request:

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 large eggs*, room temperature

3 teaspoons good vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda**

1 teaspoon cinnamon

To roll the dough in before baking, combine:

3 tablespoons white sugar

4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cream together the butter and the 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add the eggs and the vanilla and beat until soft.

Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and baking soda. 

Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls.

Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture, and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake exactly 8 minutes, and as soon as they come out of the oven, sprinkle on a little more of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets, and cool completely before storing.

* If your eggs are too big the dough will spread too much. Most recipes call for large eggs - in a recipe calling for 2 eggs, it probably won't matter much, but if you double the recipe it might - 4 extra large eggs are approximately the equivalent of 5 large. If you have extra large and are worried, you can pour off a little of the white (or whisk the eggs first and pour off a little of the mixture). The simplest thing, if you do much baking, is to just always buy large. Here's a conversion chart.

* Baking soda goes flat very quickly, which will give you flat cookies (which are just as delicious, only flat) - here's how to check. Expired or Still Good? The Quickest Way to Test Baking Soda & Baking Powder for Freshness

Easy variations - add nutmeg, cloves, or cardamon to the cinnamon mixture.