Sometimes, a writer or a reader just needs to kick back with a big cup of coffee (or glass of milk) and a plate of warm cookies. This is Only’s favorite cookie. They come out huge and soft, as long as you don’t overbake them.

Giant Snickerdoodles

Dry Ingredients:
4 1/2 cup Flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

In bowl, stir dry ingredients together.

Wet Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup Crisco
2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract or 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 cup buttermilk
(1/2 cup sugar & 2 tablespoon for coating)

In large bowl, beat Crisco with mixer on medium-to-high for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until mixed, scraping sides. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Mix in vanilla and lemon.

Alternate adding buttermilk and dry ingredients, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Cover bowl and chill at least 4 hours. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Use a 1/4 cup measure or a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. (Lightly coat scoop with non-stick spray to help prevent dough from sticking.) Scoop dough, roll in sugar/cinnamon mix to coat. Place 3″ apart on cookie sheet. Gently press cookie to 1/2″ thickness. Bake in preheated 375° for 12-14 minutes or until bottoms are a light gold. Transfer to rack to cool. Makes about 24.

This sounds like a lot of work, but trust me, the cookies are well worth the effort!

Tip:
You don’t want to overbake, but don’t underbake either. Underbaked cookies crumble. Just sayin’. The way to avoid this is to pretty much “precisely” measure the dough into “balls.” I use a rounded Kitchen Aid brand 1/4 cup measuring cup and don’t overfill it  This results in almost perfect 4″ cookies perfectly baked (in my old oven it takes a bit longer). I also use a thin metal spatula to move them from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

True story. Only called last week and asked me to bake these cookies for the dessert table of Stormy’s school auction. I found what was labled as a candy jar in the party supplies at Wallyworld for pretty cheap and grabbed some fall-themed wired ribbon when I went to buy the ingredients. I had great plans to take a picture to use today and then…life happened. I barely got the things out of the oven and cooled enough to pack in time for Baseball Boy to pick up on his way home. In bragging rights news, the dozen cookies I packed in the jar went for $60. So yeah, I’ll be baking them again next year. LOL In character news, I can see Jonah getting ready for bed and remembering that he needs cookies for school the next day. He goes running to his Aunt Sam because she can do anything! Good thing Easy likes these cookies too because he’d stay up late with Sam while she makes a couple of batches. Don’t tell any of the other Nightriders, but he’ll actually handle the dishes and kitchen clean-up. Of course, he has ulterior motives–he gets to be with his mate and when she’s done, there’s always…bedtime. 😉 If you like your paranormal romance on the dark and dirty side and haven’t tried my Nightriders series, you should. For real. Start with Easy and Sam’s story in NIGHT SHIFT. Just click on the pic or the title to get the Books2Read landing page with all the links. Enjoy the book AND the cookies!