Recipe: Grandma's Snickerdoodles

We are trying not to get carried away with baking this year, so we only making two kinds of cookies: gingerbread and my grandma's Snickerdoodles. I've shared this recipe previously on my blog but it is definitely worth repeating. Grandma passed away in August at age 102 and she made Snickerdoodles regularly for many of those years, always at Christmas but often for no reason at all.

 My pantry and fridge are very poorly equipped for most recipes, but I almost always have the ingredients for Snickerdoodles. That's one of the reasons I love this recipe!

This is a tried and true recipe which yields perfect cookies every time -- even for me! I hope you give it a try!

Snickerdoodles
1 cup shortening (Grandma used Oleo but butter is also fine!)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon and sugar to coat the cookies

-- Instructions --

 Mix the first 3 ingredients (shortening, sugar, eggs) until creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Mix up a bowl of cinnamon and sugar to your liking (start with a small amount of sugar and add in cinnamon to taste). Shape the dough into small walnut-sized balls then roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture until coated.

Oops -- I used this baking sheet for the first time in several years and a couple of the balls rolled off and into the bottom of the oven! Had to fish them out with tongs before the smoke alarm went off! Other than that small mishap, this sheet worked very nicely!

  Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Don't overbake.