On Friday, while I drove up to Vermont to bring our one of our college students home, daughter #2 decided to make the Snickerdoodle cookies of my youth. Emma used the vegetable shortening and she (at least she said she did) followed the directions that were in the book.
While the end result had that very specific cinnamon and dough taste, these guys ended up being so hard that I chose not to eat them in order to save what little teeth structure I have left. (Although to her credit, they did have those lovely cracks in the top.)
So it’s back to the drawing board for us. This coming weekend, we are going to attempt the recipe again but I will be overseeing the process. I have a feeling that the dough was not moist enough (it didn’t flatten much at all) and she definitely let them cook for too long. Also, our house is very cold and I have a feeling that the shortening may not have mixed well due to the temperature.
It’s funny because in the recipe, my mother had crossed out 8-10 minutes for a cooking time and wrote in “7 minutes.” We had made fun of the edit (“6 is right out”), but I think my mother was on to something. Snickerdoodles should not be cakey, nor they should not be rocks – there is a delicate balance somewhere in there and I think it lies right along the line of 7.
I’ll let you know how the next batch turns out.
In related cookie news, my husband got to return our college student to school on Sunday and, planning to stop in at the Kind Arthur Baking Center, he took the girls with him.
Guess what? Daughter #1 has now been bitten by the baking bug. This is what she plans to make (and she got food coloring to paint the finished cookies.)
And now Emma wants to add a “self-saucing pudding” to her list of things to attempt (thanks go to the Great British Baking Show for that suggestion.)
Yum. As far as kids’ hobbies go, let’s just say I’m behind this one 100%. Anything you need girls, anything.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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