Mass-produced Snickerdoodles at home!

September 24, 2017 10:24 AM

Trying to find a recipe that replicates the kind of snickerdoodles only attainable through tubs of fundraiser-related dough!

So, I have a recipe for snickerdoodles from my grandma that comes out great, but is like my common understanding of what a snickerdoodle is: a cream of tartar-anointed sugar cookie-like dough rolled in cinnamon sugar.

Last year, my child participated in her school's cookie dough fundraiser and we ordered some of the frozen cookie pucks and found that we really liked the snickerdoodles, but they're unlike any recipe I've encountered. According to the packaging, they're Southern Living recipe cookies, but the snickerdoodle recipe I find on Southern Living sounds more like a regular snickerdoodle. The frozen cookie pucks are more brown overall, leading me to believe more cinnamon is in the dough?

I'd like a recipe to add to our snickerdoodle arsenal that comes closer to these so we aren't hostage to the fundraising cycle. Should I just experiment with adding cinnamon or do you know of a recipe that is more like these supposed snickerdoodles?

posted by stefnet to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

I suspect it's not cinnamon that's responsible for the marked difference in hue; you'd need a likely-unpleasant amount of cinnamon for that. I wonder if the difference doesn't lie in the sweetner being used. The SL recipe uses white sugar, and since you're making and baking the dough immediately, some of the rise comes from creaming white sugar with butter. Since the frozen cookies have to, well, sit in a freezer, and get baked from frozen, they might need some leavening help. Brown sugar has more of a reaction with the baking soda, so to improve the texture of the from-frozen product, the company may have tweaked the base recipe?

It looks like the cinnamon sugar is mixed into the dough, not on the outside, so that is a difference as well. They also look like they might even have a little molasses, or something. They may be a molasses-ginger/snickerdoodle hybrid?
posted by halation at 10:49 AM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I think you're on to something, halation!

I've been snooping around more and I think they are produced by "Tasty Selections" out of Concord, Ontario. I found a "Tasty Batters" brochure that's pretty much exactly like the "Southern Living" one. Web of lies!

Anyway, I found nutritional info and ingredients lists here and molasses is in the snickerdoodle recipe!
posted by stefnet at 11:07 AM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I would also guess that you are using butter and they use some kind of shortening, as it's much cheaper. Veg shortening (e.g., Crisco sticks) will change the texture, mouth feel, and flavor of your baked goods, and may also affect their end-baked color.
posted by stillmoving at 11:09 AM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm going to guess they also chill the dough (like an icebox cookie) before forming and freezing, so it's more uniform and easier to handle. I've noticed my icebox cookies do develop more color before baking. Without that step you may get something that tastes the same even if your dough doesn't develop the color theirs does.

Report back on your experiments, please.
posted by fedward at 12:03 PM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Brown sugar is just sugar with some of the molasses still in it, so I'd personally try that first; easier to deal with than molasses for the most part.

Now that I'm thinking about it, brown sugar snickerdoodles sounds like it'd be very yummy. :9 Definitely would love to hear back on how your experiment goes.
posted by Aleyn at 1:59 PM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]