Snickerdoodles - Hold the Cream of Tartar

The butter was softened and ready to go, and I was in the mood to bake up a storm. I had the classic 1970’s cookie baking book opened and the page pressed ready to make the snickerdoodles. I’ve made the recipe as is once, and they turned out perfect. I decided to mod the recipe another time by increasing butter and omitting the shortening, and they came out flat. I was ready to actually follow a tried and true recipe, but as I scanned the recipe I saw it required cream of tartar. I check my cupboards and surely enough I was fresh out of cream of tartar. What to do. Replacing a rising ingredient can be a precarious situation. The wrong portion and substitution can create flat splayed out mess. So I researched online and saw that MOST snickerdoodle recipes required cream of tartar. I checked my empty cream of tartar mini jar that you can make baking powder out of this stuff in combination with corn starch and baking soda. My hopes were raised, baking powder should have enough base and stabilizing ingredients found in cream of tartar that it simple swap should be enough. And low and behold, you can make a snickerdoodle without cream of tartar.

2 sticks of butter (1 cup) – Salted Sweet cream – super soft at room temperature.
1 ½ cups of granulated sugar
2 eggs

2 ¾ cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp white sugar

Makes about 3 dozen, 3 inch diameter cookies.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With an electric mixer – flat beater on kitchen aid if you got one – beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This will take about 3-5 minutes of beating and will look like the consistency of whipped butter. Then add the eggs and continue beating. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, about 1/4 – 1/2 cup and continue beating and allow to fully incorporate while mixing. Be sure with a rubber/silicone spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl and sides every once in awhile for a perfectly smooth consistency. On a separate small plate, add the cinnamon and sugar – and mix. Take a generous rounded tablespoon of the dough gently roll in the cinnamon sugar mix. Then shape into a rounded ball with your hands. Place on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. When you pull the cookies out of the oven they should be slightly puffed, and they will deflate a little when the cool on the sheet for a minute. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.