Snickerdoodle Madness!!

Have you ever heard of a Snickerdoodle??  I love the name, its cute and quirky, it reminds me of a puppy! Its an American thing, most Australians have not heard of it and the response is quite often “Snickerdoodle? Whats that”? Well I have a formal definition : A butter-based cookie with a raising agent that is rolled in cinnamon sugar.  A Snickerdoodle has also been re-invented as Slices, Bars and Cakes in more recent times.  They are delicious, and if you love cinnamon doughnuts then you will love these cookies.

I recently came across a must-try recipe from one of my fellow bloggers, Shelly at http://cookiesandcups.com/cream-cheese-filled-snickerdoodles/. She blogged a fabulous recipe on Cream Cheese filled Snickerdoodles. Just the name sucked me in a first sight, I drooled at my desk for days!  I made them on Sunday, on Tuesday morning, SURPRISE! POOOFT! They are all gone from the cookie barrel! I made a 2^nd batch on Thursday night and surprise surprise my Dad seems to have hoovered them faster than the first lot.... he has a very sweet tooth when it comes to cookies and lollies (candy).

I have also changed the name from “filled” to “stuffed” for 2 reasons, first and foremost because its cuter and more appetising and secondly because I think the technique is more to the  action of stuffing them with the cream cheese mixture than filling them. But that my opinion and Im sticking to it!

Cream Cheese Stuffed Snickerdoodles

Dough :

1 ½  cups Castor Sugar

250g Butter – room temp

2 Eggs

2 ¾ cups Plain Flour

2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1 tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

Filling :

8 oz Cream Cheese – softened

¼ cup Castor Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Essence

Sugar Coating :

¼ cup Castor Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

First make the filling so it can be refrigerated. Combine all ingredients into the electric mixer, and whip together. Transfer into a clean bowl, cover with gladwrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

Next make the dough by first creaming the butter and sugar together.  Then add in the eggs one at a time and well.  Sift the dry ingredients into a separate bowl, whisk to ensure the raising agents (baking powder & cream of tartar) are thoroughly spread through flour before adding them to the mix. Now add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix until combined well to form a sticky dough. Glad wrap and place in the fridge for approximately 15 -20 minutes to chill, this will make your dough easier to work with.

Combine the Castor Sugar and Cinnamon into a small pinch pot to make your Sugar Coating. Set aside.

Remove Cream Cheese mix and Dough from fridge.

Take about a ½ tablespoon of dough mixture and roll into a ball and flatten into a disk, repeat so you have 2 disks, place a teaspoon of the cream cheese into the centre of one disk, cover with second disk, pinch around the edges to enclose, lightly roll them between your palms to combine so that the cream cheese is contained in the centre and the seams are hidden. Press lightly between palms of your hands. Roll the cookie in the sugar coating mix and place onto your baking tray that you have lined with baking paper.

Ensure you keep cookies at least 4-5 centimetres (1.5 inches) apart to allowing for spreading as these do spread a lot in the baking process. I got 8 cookies per tray, 9 at a push but they touched when baked.

Bake for 15-20 minutes on 180 degrees oven.  I recommend not sealing them in a tin or jar as I found they go completely soggy… I had to leave them out, but they didn’t last long at all!