Snickerdoodles

by Joe Conlon

Harriet Dower Conlon, Peggy Dower McNeley, and “Betty Crocker”. . .

This is the first thing I remember “helping with” in the kitchen. Both my mom and my Aunt Peggy made these cookies and we loved them. My first“job” was to roll the dough into little balls and then roll them in the cinnamon. I could make them myself by age 7. I remember being amazed at how the little balls of dough would flatten out in the oven and they’d get this crinkly surface. It seemed like magic to me. “Snickerdoodles” – I loved saying the word. Fun to say – fun to smell – fun to eat warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk. Baking these fill the kitchen with the most wonderful aroma imaginable. I can’t make these cookies without that aroma bringing back my childhood memories. We made them when my kids Joy and Jason were little too. It’s a great recipe to start teaching kids to cook. The recipe came from my mom’s very old (1950’s era) Betty Crocker loose leaf cookbook. It’s the exact recipe we used. I remember mom used to get a chapter of that book each month in the mail – kind of like book of the month club and the whole family would get excited and we’d watch her put the chapter in the binder and we’d look at the pictures and know she’d be trying new recipes on us. I also remember wondering why they just didn’t send the whole book at once. We kids didn’t like just getting “The Side dishes” or “Beverages” chapter – we wanted the good stuff – like these “Cookies”. This last summer I had a houseful of great nieces and nephews for about a week. I put them all to work in the kitchen and we made pizzas, snickerdoodles, and chocolate chip cookies. Even the littlest had their “jobs”. I told them the story above that goes with the cookies. Man! Did the house smell great that day, and a new generation now connects with their heritage.

Joe 12/7/2009

Mix together thoroughly …

1 cup soft shortening (Crisco)

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

Sift together and stir in …

2 3/4 cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour

2 tsp. Cream of tartar

1 tsp. Baking soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

Chill dough. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in mixture of 2 tbsp. Sugar and 2 tsp. Cinnamon. Place about 2″ apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned … but still soft. (These cookies puff up at first … then flatten out with crinkled tops.)

Temperature: 400 (mod. Hot oven).

Time: Bake 8 to 10 minutes

Amount: About 5 doz. 2″ cookies.

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