12 days till Christmas - Snickerdoodles! (and some news!)

Welcome to the 12 days of Christmas Cookies!  I will have a cookie recipe each day for the countdown to Christmas. First up - the ever-popular snickerdoodle. Our Christmas tray would never be without these. See the recipe below from Martha Stewart's Cookies

I also wanted to remind you of the wonderful toffee I wrote about last year. On a whim, I entered the recipe in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette's Holiday Treats Contest and they chose it as one of four winners from a total of 80 entries! You can see the winners and their recipes here, but if you get the Post Gazette, please look on the back page of the food section of the December 10th issue. There is a huge photo of my toffee! It's delicious and the recipe can be doubled so you have enough for all your kids' teachers.

So put on some holiday music, bake some cookies, and try to enjoy these last days of "readying" for Christmas!

Snickerdoodles

adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

For rolling:

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in the flour mixture just until combined.

Stir together the 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Shape dough into balls. Using a cookie scoop makes sure they are uniform in size. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and place on a Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. (Larger cookies will need more space between them.)

Bake cookies until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.