These cookies – they make me angry. I have a long-time struggle with making thick, chewy cookies (mine always tend to flatten out), but these are absolutely perfect. I want every cookie that comes out of my oven to have these exact dimensions and this exact texture.
But then again, they’re snickerdoodles. And that’s where I start to get cranky. I don’t know what it is about snickerdoodles, but they never live up to expectations. I don’t know why. And I expect these to be Larry’s favorite cookies, but they’re not. My cinnamon-loving husband is apathetic about them.
I would like these cookies to not be cinnamon, but to be chocolate chip. It’s not the fault of the recipe – if you like snickerdoodles, by all means, make these. I think it makes a fine example of a snickerdoodle. I blame snickerdoodles in general. They lure you in with their promise of warm spice, a cinnamon party in your mouth, but it’s always a let down.
One more note on this recipe. There’s brown butter in the batter. I didn’t strain the brown butter (why on earth would I give up all of those tasty brown bits?), but I thought the brown butter flavor was kind of lost in the cookie. I’d be curious to see how they taste next to the same cookie made with regular butter.
For the recipe and to see how the other Baked Sunday Mornings bakers fared, head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.
- Brown Butter Snickerdoodles (Baked Elements, p. 138)
I am new to snickerdoodles, so I think it would be interesting to make them with regular butter to compare. I did love these ones, but I’m a big fan of cinnamon (and I used some really good stuff). I think the cookie would be really good with wee little chunks of apple in them.(to make them a real Fall weather treat)
I agree with you, I’ll take chocolate chip any day!
Love how thick your cookies turned out!
Yes, the conundrums that you have put forth are indeed curious and troubling. I, too, would like every single cookie EVER to have this exact consistency… I think it has to do with the cream of tartar, since that is somewhat unique to snickerdoodles. My Momofuku Milk Bar Confetti Cookies are thick and chewy like these, and they contain cream of tartar. I don’t know the chemistry behind it (yet!), but that’s my suspicion…
For the brown butter, I might suggest getting your butter as dark as possible. Mine went a little farther than planned, and I barely pulled the pan off the heat before it got scorched, so my butter was REALLY dark, and the flavor and color were very pronounced. Anyway, sorry to hear that these were a letdown!