Epic Snickerdoodles From Jessie Sheehan Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What are snickerdoodles called in England? ›

“Snickerdoodles, also called snipdoodles or cinnamon sugar cookies, have been around since the late 1800s. They probably originated in New England and are either of German or Dutch descent. Unfortunately there is no clue as to how they got such a peculiar name.”

In addition to having an effect on flavor, skipping the cream of tartar would also result in different textured cookies. The cream of tartar is what causes the cookies to puff and rise—without it, your cookies might spread too much and/or be completely flat.

A classic snickerdoodle tastes like a sugar cookie generously flavored with cinnamon. And if the recipe uses cream of tartar, the cookie also tastes a little sour and tangy.

If you've ever wondered how snickerdoodles came to be, you've come to the right place. The cinnamon cookie that we know and love was likely brought to America by Dutch-German immigrants, cookbook author Ann Byrn says in American Cookie.

1931s Joy of Cooking claims the term snickerdoodle is based off the German word Schneckennudel—a German pastry whose name literally translates as 'snail noodle'. A Schneckennudel is a yeast dough roll that more closely resembles a cinnamon bun, not a snickerdoodle cookie.

You can either replace cream of tartar with baking powder at a 1:1.5 ratio (1 teaspoon cream of tartar : 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder), or you can replace cream of tartar with the combination of baking soda and either lemon juice or vinegar (as with this recipe).

Because cream of tartar is slightly more acidic than baking powder, it gives the cookies a slight sour-flavored tang unique to snickerdoodles.

It's always best to follow the recipe exactly, which means including cream of tartar if the recipe has been tested with it. If you omit it, you may get different results than expected. WHY DO MY SNICKERDOODLES TASTE BITTER? Your snickerdoodles may taste bitter if you are sensitive to the taste of cream of tartar.

The egg taste might be due to using low-quality eggs, not fully incorporating the eggs into the batter, overmixing, or other factors. Here are some steps you can take to help get rid of the egg taste: Use Fresh Eggs: Ensure you're using fresh eggs. Older eggs can sometimes have a more pronounced taste.

Why do they call it snickerdoodle? ›

Snickerdoodles are often referred to as "sugar cookies". The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln ("snail noodles"), a kind of pastry.

Tangy Flavor: Cream of tartar contributes a subtle, tangy flavor to the cookies. This tangy note helps balance the sweetness of the cookie dough and enhances the overall flavor profile of snickerdoodles. It gives the cookies a unique taste that sets them apart from other cinnamon-sugar-coated cookies.

Cookies appear to have their origins in 7th century AD Persia, shortly after the use of sugar became relatively common in the region. They spread to Europe through the Muslim conquest of Spain.

Hard or crisp cookies are called biscuits in the U.K. while the chewier dessert can be identified as a cookie.

In many English-speaking countries outside North America, including the United Kingdom, the most common word for a crisp cookie is "biscuit".

In England they were called sugar biscuits as well as jumbles. Sugar cookies were also called gemmells, crybabies, gimbletts, cimbellines, jumbles, and plunketts.

The British call cookies "biscuits". They occasionally use the word "cookie" in the context of using Americanisms like "he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar", or "that's the way the cookie crumbles".