It was fascinating to watch Joe make the recipe, in part because I’m always interested in watching someone else work in the kitchen (I always learn something), and in part because I didn’t know a thing about snickerdoodles, so everything was new – starting with the way Joe mixed the butter and brown sugar together in the mixer: he beat the ingredients on high speed! I never do this with cookies because I never want to beat air into the dough. When you beat air into cookie dough, the dough puffs in the oven and then it deflates and forms crinkles and crackles. Turns out, this is just what you want a snickerdoodle to do.
Having four hands in the kitchen made fast(er) work of shaping and baking a double-batch, or about 170 cookies, because we could form a little production line: Joe scooped the dough and I rolled it between my palms and then dropped it into a bowl of cardamom sugar. These are just the kinds of baking steps I love – anytime I can play with my food, I’m happy.
That we baked so many cookies was almost ironic given that Joe’s specialty is all about cooking for one, but we were baking for Joe’s book signing at the IACP. If you’re serving yourself, minus 169 of your nearest and dearest, you can follow Joe’s advice: shape and freeze the cookies and then, when you want a cookie (or five), you can go from freezer to oven to delight, no thawing necessary.
Joe went back to Maine. I came back to Connecticut. And you know what? The kitchen’s awfully quiet without him. If you’re wondering if he feels the same way I do (Joe, do you miss me yet?), go visit him: Joe’s got a post about our snickerdoodling on his site.
And if you want to snickerdoodle yourself – or with a friend – here’s Joe’s terrific recipe.
CARDAMOM BROWN SUGAR SNICKERDOODLES
Makes about 84 cookies
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, 1 teaspoon of the cardamom and the salt in a large bowl.
Combine the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and beat until very light and fluffy, 2 or 3 minutes, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the speed to medium and beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla extract. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add about one-third of the dry ingredients; beat on low speed until fully incorporated. Repeat two more times, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Cover and refrigerate for about an hour, until firm.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, positioning the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
Stir together the granulated sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon of cardamom in a medium bowl. Use a #100 disher (a 3/4-tablespoon scoop) or a tablespoon to scoop small balls of dough, a few at a time, into the sugar-cardamom mixture, then roll the pieces to coat them and lightly roll them into balls between your palms, pressing the sugar mixture into the dough. Arrange the cookies 2 inches apart on each baking sheet.
Bake two sheets at a time for 5 minutes, then rotate the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are crackled and the edges are just barely browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving or storing. Use a strainer to sift any extra cardamom-sugar mixture onto the cookies (this will keep separate any clumps of dough that might be left in the sugar).
