Tag Archives: snickerdoodles

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and My Egg Nog Snickerdoodles

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This year I partook in the first ever Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. What did this swap entail, you might ask? It involved me baking three dozen cookies and sending them to three different food bloggers. It then involved me receiving three dozen DELICIOUS cookies from three different bloggers myself. Pretty cool if you ask me. It’s a great way to network in the food blogger community and a great way to chomp on some delicious cookies.

The cookies I made for the swap are my Egg Nog Snickerdoodles. They are my first EVER venture into a recipe that is 100% my own (read: no recipe to follow, chances for disaster very high). My process was:

Make the dough.

Bake one cookie.

Try the cookie.

Tweak the recipe.

Bake one more cookie.

Try the cookie.

Tweak the recipe.

I continued this process until I got it just right. I really think these taste like egg nog and I hope you’ll agree.

egg nog snickerdoodles

Egg Nog Snickerdoodles

  • 2 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp nutmeg (divided)
  • 1 3/4 cups of sugar, divided 1 1/2 and 1/4
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp  unsalted butter, room temperature (2 1/4 sticks)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup [Andrew's good] bourbon (I generally use more – closer to a 1/2 cup, but it’s a matter of personal taste – don’t tell Andrew)
  • 3 tbsp rum
  1. Preheat oven to 375. Set a cookie sheet aside. No need for non-stick spray or parchment paper. These bad boys don’t stick.
  2. Mix together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
  3. Cream the sugar into the butter and egg until smooth in a large bowl.
  4. Add bourbon and rum to the sugar, butter, egg mixture.
  5. Slowly pour the dry ingredients mixture into the liquid ingredients mixture, 1/3 at a time. Mix until all ingredients are combined and smooth.
  6. In a large, shallow bowl or on a plate, mix together 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp nutmeg.
  7. Take a piece of dough and create a ball roughly 1 inch in diameter. Roll the ball around sugar/nutmeg mixture until the ball is completely coated. Place ball on cookie sheet.
  8. Continue this with the rest of the cookie dough. Make sure that the balls of dough are no closer than 2 inches on the cookie sheet.
  9. Place cookie sheet on top rack of oven so as to ensure the bottoms of the cookies do not burn. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from over and let cool on the baking sheet for another 1-2 minutes. Remove cookies and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Silly side note: while I was making these cookies, Andrew got tired

so tired

Then he got hungry

open sesame

As for shipping, I sent the cookies off in these tupperware containers from Container Store. Cute, right??

Now, on to the cookies I received in the swap. The first batch of cookies I devoured were from Vesta Vamps. They were amazingly delectable and perfectly sweet. They’re her Great Aunt Thelma’s Butterscotch cookies. Delicious.

The second batch of cookies I received were from Nora in Portland, Oregon who writes Cats and Commas. They were ginger snaps made with three different types of ginger. How inventive is that?? They were rich and complex with a degree of spice that perfectly offset the sweetness.

The last batch of cookies I received were from Addison at Changing My Destiny. They’re Dark Chocolate Dipped Oatmeal Chewies – a great new spin on a traditional (and delicious) oatmeal cookie. The dark chocolate paired with the oatmeal was a perfect balance!

All in all, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to be a part of it next year. As for now, I’m gonna go chomp some more cookies…

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

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With Fall in full force, I feel compelled to enjoy as many pumpkin recipes as I possibly can. These pumpkin snickerdoodles were my first foray into the land of pump since fall began. This recipe is flawless. It’s from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen and I’m so happy I found it.

  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided (1 1/2 c, 1/4 c)
  • 2 sticks salted butter, softened
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and either line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or spray two baking sheets with non-stick spray

2) In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside

3) In another large bowl, cream the butter with 1 1/2 cups of sugar with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add pumpkin puree and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Make sure you scrape down the sides to get all the ingredients in there.

4) Place the remaining 1/4 sugar and the cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Roll one heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball and roll it in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place the cinnamon sugar ball of dough on the prepared baking sheet. Continue to do this with the rest of the dough, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart

i had already made a few batches. i promise i don’t keep my baking sheets this dirty :)

5) Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time until the edges are firm but the middle of the cookie looks soft and puffy – about 10 to 12 minutes. If you want, you can rotate the baking sheets halfway through. I didn’t and they still turned out great.

6) Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.