Snickerdoodle - y Delicious!

I adore Snickerdoodles and have (what I consider) a pretty awesome recipe in an old recipe book my Mom gave me.  It is a 'Cooking for Two' cookbook she received as a wedding gift in 1966 and one of my all-time favorite cookbooks. . . once I learned how to double the recipes (ha!)

My daughter is always on the hunt for new recipes and came across a new twist on my all-time favorite cookie - Eggnog Snickerdoodles. 

As tasty as they turned out, I hesitate to title my own recipe along those lines.  For starters - there is no eggnog in these cookies.  However, there is rum extract and (as a new twist on the traditional snickerdoodle theme) the balls of cookie dough are rolled in a combination of sugar and nutmeg, instead of cinnamon and sugar, which does lend the overall flavor to more of a eggnog-y theme. 

Well. . . you''ll just have to try them and see for yourself;-)

Holiday Snickerdoodle Cookies

1 cup salted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar (substitute and equal amount of powdered sugar for a softer cookie)
2 eggs
2 tsp. rum extract (substitution of the 'real' stuff would also work)
3 cups flour (whole wheat flour gives a richer flavor)
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar blended with 2 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, cream together softened butter, sugar, eggs, and rum extract until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cream of tartar and baking soda. 

Combine two mixtures and blend until no dry ingredients remain.  Dough will be stiff.

Mix 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp nutmeg in small bowl.

Shape dough into rounded tablespoons (can make larger or smaller - just keep the size as consistent as possible for best results)

roll in sugar and nutmeg mixture

and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes until cookies are just set, slightly golden around the edges, and tops have started to crack.

The 'eggnog' flavor of these snickerdoodle cookies does seem to grow as they cool.  I certainly wouldn't avoid this recipe if you don't like the taste of eggnog, but do enjoy homemade snickerdoodles.  The recipe is easy to whip up, you could keep the dough in the refrigerator in a covered container for a couple days and just make one cookie sheet at a time if you wanted.  Or you could bake the entire batch (we got 32 cookies - betting if we had made them all consistently 'tablespoon' sized balls we would have ended up with around 40) and freeze some for later.

No matter what - cookies for the holidays are a must and this recipe is a keeper.

Have a holiday cookie kind of day ~

Robin Z