Old fashioned Snickerdoodles with a hint of molasses.

Who doesn't love Snickerdoodles, even the name is fun. 

I remember being about 6 years old when I first tasted the soft chewy cinnamon goodness of a Snickerdoodle. The trick with any chewy cookie is adding a little bit of dark molasses to the batter. My stepfather Earl; who was Kansas born and raised; taught my mother most of his good ol' fashion Midwestern recipes and she in turn taught us girls. I'm sure Grandma H. sent him a box of index cards with her recipes which he kept in his top dresser drawer. That "drawer" was filled with all kinds of treasures. It was a treat for us kids to go in there and fetch things like silver dollars, whoopie cushions etc. Earl was a man of many talents, farming and cooking were certainly a few. We grew vegetables each year on an acre of our 5 acre property--talk about alot of work! The Snickerdoodle is one of the easiest cookies to make hands down & certainly the favorite cookie of both my son and Mighty Mouse (keep in mind Mighty Mouse is allergic to caffeine so chocolate recipes don't count).

Ingredients (makes 36 cookies)
Dough
1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature (I like salted but you can use unsalted)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon dark molasses
3 large eggs
4 1/8 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


Coating
4 tablespoons sugar
4  teaspoons cinnamon
Optional: 1 teaspoon ground ginger powder


Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Place 2 un-greased baking trays into the fridge or freezer. 
• In a large mixing bowl, add butter, 2 cups of sugar, molasses, vanilla and eggs. Mix until creamy.
• In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
• Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Blend well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. 
• Make the coating. In a small bowl add the sugar, cinnamon and ginger.
• Remove the chilled dough from fridge and start rolling 36 - 1" balls. Once the balls are all rolled, cover each ball with the coating mixture by gently rolling each ball into cinnamon sugar bowl until completely coated. The recipe makes 36 cookies and I enjoy Snickerdoodles fresh from the oven thus I only make 12 at a time. I keep the rest in an airtight container in the fridge to bake off during the rest of the week. 

Place 6 dough balls onto each of the chilled ungreased cookie sheets. You can leave them as balls or gently press them down alittle bit to create a flatter cookie.  Bake approx. 8-10 minutes depending on what type of texture you prefer. It's critical to keep an eye on the cookies after 7 minutes to avoid over baking. I like my Snickerdoodles, soft yet chewy with nice little crispy edges and take them out when they're a nice honey color. You may like yours a bit crispier, in which case you leave them in the oven until they;re a medium honey color. In any case, after you bake and taste tested a few you'll find the perfect bake time that works for you. When the cookies are ready take them out of the oven and immediately remove them from cookie sheets to avoid them from over cooking. Cool on wire racks and enjoy.