Snickerdoodles

After seeing these on several American sites I wondered why they’ve never ‘made it’ in Britain. Lightly spiced cakey biscuits rolled in cinnamon sugar – what’s not to love?

I probably don’t need to tell you just how wonderful the kitchen smells while these are baking; cinnamon has such an enticing, heady aroma.

Here they are ready for the oven:


Here they are fresh from the oven; such cute little domes:


No one seems to know how the snickerdoodle got its name. A brief search on the internet threw up many theories, my favourite being that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word for "snail dumpling" (Schneckennudeln, or cinnamon-dusted sweet rolls). What my internet browsing also revealed is that everyone seems to make them in a different way resulting in biscuits ranging from thin and crispy to the cakey little doughnuts that I’ve made.


Of course, all this is very interesting, but the most important thing is that they taste utterly divine!

Ingredients:
For the biscuits:
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the coating:
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder and nutmeg until you have a sticky but well combined dough.
- On a plate, stir together the sugar and cinnamon to make the coating.
- Taking a teaspoon of the dough at a time, roll between your palms to make a little ball.
- Roll the ball around on the plate with the coating and ensure it is completely covered.
- Place on the baking sheet. Place a maximum of 12 biscuits per sheet as they will expand while cooking.
- Repeat until all the dough is used. I got 21 biscuits.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuit is golden brown and slightly cracked on top. Mine took exactly 15 minutes.
- Let the biscuits firm up on the tray before you move them to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.