Recipe: Snickerdoodles with brown sugar

My mom and cousin, visiting from Indiana, were headed out of town the other night and I was making the farewell dinner. I'd just returned from a week-long road trip. The refrigerator and cupboards were nearly bare. But, knowing my cousins love of sweets, I didn't want to say goodbye without dessert.

I figured I had everything I needed for snickerdoodles, the classic cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking. I was nearly right ... minus 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

I quickly texted my neighbor that classic question ... "Can I borrow a 1/4 cup of sugar?" Sadly, she was still at work. So I put my Betty Crocker cap on and pretty quickly realized that brown sugar might do just fine in the recipe.

Let's just say it was a very happy discovery. The addition of brown sugar turned out a cookie that was even more melt-in-your-mouth delicious than usual. My husband, who claims the snickerdoodle as a favorite cookie, declared that it was better than the original recipe.

So here's my take on a snickerdoodle, using a recipe that's pretty common but was given to me by my mom.

1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix butter, sugar and eggs. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Mix with creamed ingredients. (I usually skip the sifting step and just dump the dry ingredients in with the wet ones). Chill dough. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts and roll in a mixture of 1 tsp cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar.

Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until very light brown, but still soft. They will puff up, then flatten out and crinkle on top. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about two dozen. This is actually half of the original recipe. I usually halve my cookie recipes so I don't have so many hanging around the house.