Snickerdoodles!

No, that's not me finding creative ways to swear without swearing. (why the fuck would I do that?)

It's cookies!

In addition to these being one of Recipe Guy's favourite cookies (which means I will be making them again in a few months), I had a request for these at work. Yup, I'm back to work full time, which means the cookie request board is back in business.

Snickerdoodles are a variation on a sugar cookie. They have a slightly softer dough than typical sugar cookies, and because of that they aren't rolled flat and cut. They're rolled into balls and allowed to flatten all on their own. They're also covered in cinnamon sugar. Anything covered in cinnamon sugar is awesome. Even toast.

The one distinct difference between snickerdoodles and other sugar cookies is the leavener. Snickerdoodles use cream of tartar in place of the baking powder.

Cream of tartar is actually a component of baking powder, but the use of it straight to react with the baking soda results in a cookie that puffs up beautifully in the oven, breaking the sugared top and creating that lovely crackled look.

They fall a bit as the air trapped inside them cools and decreases in volume, minimizing the cracked look, but they'll stay nice and soft inside. Soft chewy middle, crispy crackled outside, and covered in cinnamon sugar like some kind of perfect cookie version of a breakfast doughnut...

Snickerdoodles

• 1 c butter
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2-1/2 to 3 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• cinnamon sugar

Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature. If they're not, use one of Taneasha's awesome tips to fix that.

Cream the butter and sugar until they're fluffy and golden.

Beat in the eggs and vanilla until you have something resembling a soft buttercream icing.

Dump in 2-1/2 cups of flour, and then top with the baking soda and cream of tartar. Give the dry stuff a gentle stir before mixing it into the wet stuff. Once you've got the flour mixed in, decide if you need any of that remaining cup.

The dough should be soft and a little bit sticky.

You should be able to form it into a ball with only minimal amounts sticking to your fingers.

Wrap the almost sticky dough in plastic and let it chill in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. You can leave it in there for a day if you're planning ahead, but if you do, give it at least 30 minutes on the counter. If it's too cold, you'll need to put a lot of work into rolling the dough into balls, and since cookies are technically a pastry, you want to touch them as little as possible.

Cold balls plus too much handling equals tough cookies.

Preheat the oven now! 350.

Bust off a piece of dough about the size of a cherry.

Gently roll it into a ball, and then drop that ball into a small dish of cinnamon sugar.

Jiggle the dish and roll the ball around until it's completely covered.

Once you've done that a dozen times, and have a dozen sugary balls on a parchment covered sheet, bake them for 8 to 10 minutes.

(It took a lot of restraint to not eat these things! Holy crap I need to make some kind of no bake doughnut hole cookie!)

Mine needed only 8.

These things are freaking amazing. I've already packed them up to take to work because if I didn't I'd probably eat a dozen between now and then. Mostly now.

What's your favourite cookie?

Spinach Pesto

I should have timed myself because I know this took less than 20 minutes to make.

Last night's dinner was a horrible fail. How bad was it? I wouldn't even post it as a fail, that's how bad. I've had quite a few fails lately and I really needed to do something to redeem myself. Pretty sure this did it.

Colourful, fresh, fast. Perfect spring dinner.

Spinach Pesto

• 3-4 cups fresh spinach
• 1/2 c grated parmesan, asiago, or romano cheese
• 2-3 tbsp nuts, I used cashews because I had them
• 1 large garlic clove
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt
• olive oil

Dinner was tasty, but I still didn't get all the ingredients in the picture though.

No oven to preheat this time. But getting the water boiling now helps. Grating the cheese too.

Dump the spinach leaves into the food processor.

Sprinkle on the cheese, nuts, garlic, lemon zest, and salt.

Squeeze in the juice.

A few pulses will get it looking like this.

This recipe makes enough for 4-6 servings of pasta, but if you want to make a double batch, just add another set of everything to the bowl, and do it all over again.

Scrape down the sides and this time, when you turn it on, pour in a tablespoon or two of olive oil, until it just turns pasty. 

At this point, you can use it as a pasta sauce, an ingredient in a dip, a sandwich spread, or even in soup.

A bit more oil will make it very saucy, but it will store and freeze just as well as it is now.

Besides, a bit of cream will make it saucy too.

You can make pesto with anything leafy and green. Spinach is very brightly coloured, but mildly flavoured. Even kids should eat this. But if they don't want to, add some prosciutto , tell them it's green noodles and ham and they don't get to say they don't like it until they try it. SamIAm.

Okay, there we go. I made dinner. I really can cook.