Experimenting with Snickerdoodles

I'm flying out tomorrow night on a red-eye to attend my five-year college reunion. Shocking, but true. Five years!

Anyway, I managed to finish all my homework and reading early (or at least all the reading I could motivate myself to read...), so after packing, cleaning, watching How to Steal a Million on Netflix, and running some errands, I decided to bake some cookies. There's no way I can eat two dozen cookies in 24 hours, so in retrospect, this wasn't the best idea... I guess I'll have to share with some of my pals at school!

I didn't feel like running out to the store (obviously), but I keep staples on hand for just this kind of cookie crisis. Enter the snickerdoodle!

I'm calling these "experimental" for two reasons... 

Diversion #1: For some reason, I thought snickerdoodles didn't have any special ingredients... Turns out that all the best-rated recipes call for cream of tartar, though. I, of course, do not stock cream of tartar. However, I read online that you can replace the combination of cream of tartar and baking soda with baking powder. Hurray for improvising!

Diversion #2: I try to use a scale whenever I bake, because I've read that baking by weight is more accurate. Unfortunately, my baking scale chose tonight to start going on the fritz, and it kept zero-ing out as I was measuring the flour. As a result, I'm pretty sure I over floured by about 1/2 a cup; the only thing I could think to do was to add an extra egg white I had in my fridge. More improv!

Thankfully, neither of these changes seemed to impact the end result. I guess these came out a little bit more "fluffy" than the traditional snickerdoodle, but how can you go wrong with sugar, butter, flour, and cinnamon?

Here is the recipe I tried to follow -- emphasis on the "tried"...

Snickerdoodles from Smitten Kitchen (I made a half-recipe, since I honestly would not know what to do with three to four dozen cookies)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar*
1 teaspoon baking soda*
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 stick or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 400°, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine. Chill the dough for an hour.

Once dough has chilled, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small ice-cream scoop* to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about five minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack.

* I substituted 1 tablespoon of baking powder for the baking soda and cream of tartar

Homemade Oreos... TKO-style

Mom rarely let J and me eat processed sweets as kids. She claims this is because she has a guilty conscience about working for a marketing firm that promoted sugary cereals that rot children's teeth, but I suspect it had more to do with not wanting to deal with rugrats on sugar-highs. However, yesterday it occurred to me that despite herself, my mom did allow one particularly delightful treat into our home: Oreos. There is only one explanation for this... Nabisco must be right when they claim that Oreos are America's favorite cookies. Even Mom couldn't resist.

Understandably, then, when I came across this recipe for Thomas Keller's TKOs (yes, this links to a recipe for the Oreo-style cookies he sells at the famed Bouchon Bakery), my heart nearly skipped a beat. My beloved childhood treat transformed by one of the world's master chefs? Done and done.

These were delicious. Obviously. Rich, buttery chocolate cookies filled with creamy white chocolate flavored cream? I don't even know where to begin (or end... I've had three just today), so here's the recipe. Bake and enjoy.

TKOs (from Gilt Taste)
Adapted from Thomas Keller and Lena Kwak

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

For the cookies:
1½ cups all-purpose plus 3 tablespoons flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
15 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:
½ cup heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate chips

1. Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and soda in a mixing bowl, then mix with a mixer on low speed. Add butter a few tablespoonfuls at a time and continue to mix, increasing speed until a dough forms. (It will look dry and sandy at first.)

3. Divide dough in 2 halves. Roll each half between 2 sheets of parchment paper to 1/8-inch thick, then chill on a baking sheet in the refrigerator, 25 minutes. Cut rounds from dough using a 2” to 2½” cutter, then transfer rounds to buttered baking sheets. Bake cookies, rotating sheets half way through, until centers are dry to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets, 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

4. Make the filling: Bring cream to a boil in a small sauce pan. Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, then pour boiling cream over chocolate, whisking to combine. Let cool to room temperature.

5. Assemble cookies: Spread 1 cookie with some of filling, then sandwich with another cookie. Serve with milk.