Snickerdoodles with Agent Smelly

Today for home economics Agent Smelly wished to make "Snickerdoodles". I have been making these biscuits for the past 10 years now (although not as frequently as the family would like apparently!), and they are always such a hit.

What is it about breaking eggs that is so much fun that children basically fight to be the one to do it. Actually when I think about it I quite like breaking them too ... it's quite satisfying really.

Agent Smelly doesn't usually get as much time in the kitchen as her older sister, so today was all about her. The Fashionista was on another bench making our dessert for the evening, an apple crumble. This recipe has a few odd measurements so it was a great opportunity to work on some fractions. If something calls for a cup, I often give the girls a smaller sized one so they can work out how many times they will need to use it to make a whole cup. Both girls are pretty good with fractions and I am sure it is down to cooking and playing with measuring cups.

They are as delicious as they look. By the way they aren't burnt the darker colour on the outside is from the sugar and cinnamon the dough is rolled in before you bake them.

There are loads of different versions of the recipe but here's the one we use.

SNICKERDOODLES

Makes 4-5 doz depending on the size

Ingredients:
250gms butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups (350gms) flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Topping; mix together 2 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon (to be honest we often run out and end up making more topping but this is what the recipe recommends.)

1/ Heat oven to 200 deg C
2/ Mix together butter, sugar and eggs
3/ Blend in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt
4/ Shape dough into balls - we have found about the size of a tom bowler (one of those large marbles) works best
5/ Roll balls in the topping (which is easier when it's in a small bowl) and place them on ungreased baking sheets. Leave at least 4cm between the balls as they will spread.
6/ Bake for 8-10 mins. Again it will depend on how big you make your balls as to how long you will need to bake them for. Just make sure they are still light coloured (under all the cinammon) when you take them out. They will be very soft and so it's best to use an egg flip, etc to place them on a baking rack to cool or they will probably crumble.

Just thought I'd share this picture of The Fashionist who I had just advised how to rub the butter into the flour and sugar for her crumble. She was a little surprised by the feeling!