Snickerdoodles
A cinnamon-sugar cookie that stays soft because of cream of tartar, not because you underbaked it. Eighteen of them, from a mixer bowl, in about 35 minutes.
Method
Heat the oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. The cream of tartar is what makes these snickerdoodles and not cinnamon sugar cookies.
In a stand mixer — or a hand mixer and a large bowl — beat the butter and ¾ cup of the sugar until it is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as you go. Beat in the egg until the mixture looks creamy, then the vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients and beat on low just until the flour disappears.
Stir the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough into golf-ball-size balls and drop each one in the cinnamon sugar until it is coated.
Set them on parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets, at least 3 inches apart — they spread. Bake until the centers look just set and dry, 10 to 12 minutes. A minute past that and they go from chewy to hard. Leave them on the sheet for a few minutes, then move them to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes from the line
If the cinnamon has been in the cabinet since last Christmas, buy a new jar. It is the only spice in the cookie.
They will look a little pale when you pull them. That is correct. They finish on the sheet.
Adapted from NYT Cooking. Headnote and method rewritten for Dad Made.