Bake 4: Mace Snickerdoodles

The theme of the second episode is biscuits! Known as cookies for those who live on this side of the pond. As I have with previous bakes, I thought through my favorites. As this bake was to be the bakers favorite I figured that would be easy. Yet, I thought for a long time and realized I like a lot of cookies. Coming to a point of being stumped, I thought, well duh, I will call my mom, she knows what cookies I like best. Then it hit me - Snickerdoodles. Of course! Snickerdoodles! When I told the wife about this thought process later she laughed, it was the obvious answer apparently. 

Growing up, my mom would make us scrunch up our faces and say 'schnookerdoodle' in a very silly way because that is what you had to do to eat them. This was a lie but of course I will teach my son the same thing.

To mix things up, I am rolling my snickerdoodles in a sugar with equal parts cinnamon and mace. Mace is from the nutmeg tree which is native to Indonesia and Greneda. Mace is the lacy outer protective layer around the nutmeg. Nutmeg is the inner kernal of the fruit of the tree. Mace is a similar slightly lighter nutmeg flavor with a peppery note. I love it... reminds me of have a good cup of spicy chai and how the peppery warming spice hits the back of the throat. Yum! 

 

This is the recipe we used growing up, I still use it but with a few adjustments... use 1 cup of butter instead of the butter or margarine and shortening. Increase the salt to 1/2 teaspoon. I also increase the rolling sugar to 1/4 cup. I do that just so they are easier to roll but if you are concerned about wasting sugar, use 2 tablespoons and add more as needed.. It definitely doesn't make 6 dozen cookies, that is just silly Betty, she missed on the math there, it makes 3 dozen when using a standard size cookie scoop. 

Baking at 400 is critical and you do have to watch these ones. It says to bake 8-10 minutes, but I don't time them as the time changes based on using a cool pan, or a pan you just used in the oven. They puff up quite a bit, and when they are just beginning to deflate, and the outside edge gets the slightest bit of browning pull them out. Cool them on a rack and enjoy!

Want to be extra? They make amazing ice cream sandwiches if you smoosh a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two cookies, wrap in wax paper and freeze until solid.