Snickerdoodles

The birthday surprise turned out to be a cooking class! A Ragin’ Cajun cooking class to be exact. Andrew blindfolded me and everything while we drove over to Hipcooks. It was so fun! 12 people, 1 teacher, some knife skills, and a lot of really good food. Four courses—-shrimp etouffee over jalapeno cornbread, andouille and chicken gumbo over rice, turnips and greens, and bananas foster cooked over the course of three hours with plenty of beer tasting [after the knife skills portion!]. All of it was so good, and I left stuffed! There was no measuring involved, just ratios, and lots of tasting in between to see what ingredients would add to the various layers of the dishes. The gumbo is for sure happening again. Probably this week. They send you the recipes the next day so you can make it on your own.

Things I learned:

• I need a Wusthof 8″ chef knife.
• I could definitely benefit from a knife skills class.
• I prefer sweeter cornbread.
• Okra can be cooked down into gumbo to thicken it up.
• Vanilla bean syrup makes everything taste better.
• Lighting things on fire doesn’t make things taste better, but it looks cool.

Seriously one of the best gifts ever. Look at these classes–I want to take them all!

I call these my birthday cookies since I made them the day after my birthday. Since I may or may not be out of chocolate chips [ahem, Andrew] and there isn’t much cocoa powder left, I went with something different. I stole them from Jessica [a common theme lately], and they are without a doubt the fluffiest Snickerdoodles I’ve ever had. They’re not cake-like, just airy. Do yourself a favor and truly let the dough camp out in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes. They roll into balls way easier…unless you’re into eating dough of your hands later. I am. I have no shame. They were also the most uniform cookies I’ve ever made. I don’t know how that happened. Magic, probably.

Inspiration: How Sweet It is

Ingredients

• 1 stick [half cup] of butter [or butter substitute], room temperature
• 1 cup sugar [I’m on an organic kick again]
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons milk [almond!]
• 1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon whisked together in a bowl

Preparation

1. In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Seriously, whip it. Whip it good.
3. Add in the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Combine on low until just mixed.
4. Pour in the milk. The dough should be a light fluffy cookie dough. Add more milk if it’s too dry.
5. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375°. Huddle near it because the house is freezing [I hate turning on my heat!].
7. Line a baking pan or two with a silpat or parchment [Guess who has TWO silpats now? Thanks, Sabrina!]
8. Using a tablespoon, or your hands, roll the dough into 1″ balls, and roll them into the cinnamon sugar mixture in the bowl.
9. Space evenly on the baking sheet [I was able to get 10-12 per sheet].
10. Flatten them with your fingers into a nice circular shape.
11. Bake for 10 minutes. You want them soft still.
12. So. Dang. Good.