Snickerdoodles, baby!

This is the magic book of tried and true recipies in the Cunningham household. When this comes out, you know good food is on the way...

Today we're making snickerdoodles. These have got to be the easiest cookies in the world to bake. And they make your house smell amazing. And they're good. Really good. Good for an afternoon snack. Good for a bedtime snack. But absolutely not good for breakfast. Eating cookies for breakfast would just be wrong. Did you hear that kids? Your mother would never, ever have snickerdoodles for breakfast. At least when you're watching.

This is the snickerdoodle recipe that my mom made when I was growing up and it cannot be beat. That's a fact. Don't try to dispute it. Just trust me. And the beauty part is, you can crank out a batch of them in half an hour, start to finish. By the time you get done tasting the dough this recipe makes about 24 cookies. Notice I said, "you" tasting the dough. Not me. Never.

Anyway, it's easy as pie. Well, probably a whole lot easier than pie. I don't know. I don't make pie. Yet. Maybe later. We'll see.

First you make this:

Then you add this:


And please, whatever you do, don't forget this:


I do have to insist that if at all possible you use baking stones.

They make the bottoms of your cookies look beautiful. I can't make any promises about the bottom of, well, yourself, if you eat all the cookies. These are not diet food. They are made with Crisco, after all. Just one of the things that makes them taste so good.

You can always eat a couple of cookies and give the rest of them away if your lack of will power demands it. I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding good Samaritans willing to take these off your hands.

Here's what they look like going into the oven:

Here's what they look like coming out.

Go make some. You know you want to.

Grandma Marlene's World Famous Snickerdoodles

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Mix together shortening, sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Blend into shortening mixture. Form into 1" balls. Roll in mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Place 2" apart on baking stone. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. See? Couldn't be easier.