Crackly Sugar Cookies Recipe
Adapted from Brigid Callinan
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Nothing beats a classic sugar cookie. Chock-full of buttery goodness, these cookies are beautiful as well as delicious. Baking soda and cream of tartar create the reaction that produces the eye-catching crackled tops. For an extravagant treat, make minicookies (rounded teaspoon – size) and sandwich them with a schmear of Nutella.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 cup sugar (sanding or granulated) for rolling cookies
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl sides and bottom. Add yolks, vanilla, and salt and mix on medium speed until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Add flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Mix on low speed until dough comes together. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoons and roll between your hands until smooth.
- Roll dough in sanding or granulated sugar to coat and place on parchment-paper-lined baking sheets. Bake cookies until they are golden brown around the edges but still soft in the center, about 15 to 16 minutes. Immediately transfer to a rack to cool completely.
These are not Snickerdoodles, unless they're rolled in cinnamon sugar prior to baking. The subbing of baking powder (which contains cream of tartar) for cream of tartar, as tgrayson did, has much the same effect as cream of tartar. The sugar melting and absorbing moisture on the outside of the cookie causes the crackled tops and crunch, as sugar is hygroscopic and dries out the cookie exterior, which cracks when the leavening agents causes the dough to expand when exposed to heat.
I think you yanks put too much cinnamon in everything!
So what does everyone think about putting raspberry jam and then chocolate drop on top of that in the center of the cookie? Will it stay on top or just ooze all over? Because I think it sounds pretty yummy, but I'm not quite sure how it'll work out logistically.
I have many recipes for crackle cookies and they all say to roll
dough in sugar.Because the sugar cracks the tops of the cookies.
I LOVE this recipe, primarily because I don't have to roll it and chill it before I can bake & eat the cookies. I can't wait to tweak it with other flavors...
I used bread flour because I had some and I rarely bake bread, so I "hacked" the recipe in case I notice a difference next time I make them (which will be after my next trip to the grocery store when I get some more unsalted butter) and I "thought" I was saving it to MYCHOW, but I have belatedly found out that it is published, and I do apologize. I haven't found a way to unpublish something I put out there, but I will do that as soon as I figure out how to do it.
My thought on the cracked tops, having not made these yet, is somewhat opposite tgrayson's, though I think we're on the same page. Seems to me that the cracking would be due to a rapid rise/expansion on the outside, and the interior never catching up, staying nice and chewy. Just like the oatmeal cookies that I made this morning, when you take them out of the oven they "settle in" a little bit.
Funny how different people think of (slightly) different cookies when they hear "snickerdoodle." I worked in a bakery and there was constant confusion with customers over the finer points!
Snickerdoodles have a cinnamon dusting (and nutmeg?) for a characteristic flavor difference. But you're right, sugar cookie base recipe.
These cookies were very good. However, I was skeptical of the author's statement that it was the cream of tartar with baking soda that created the crackled tops, so I made a second batch, substituting in 3/4 tsp of baking POWDER, along with 3/4 of baking soda.
This second batch was pretty much indistinguishable from the first. The tops were just as crackled as the ones using the cream of tartar and the flavor was the same. They weren't quite as flat, but that could have been an oven temperature thing.
My theory is that crackled tops are caused by low moisture dough; the exterior dries and hardens before the cookie is finished expanding, causing it to effectively burst.
In my book, snickerdoodles have cinnamon. These sound good, whatever they are called.
because snickerdoodles have pieces of snickers in them?
This is basically a Snickerdoodle. Why are they calling it a Sugar Cookie?
You wouldn't be able to mash the cream of tartar and baking soda into the dough in any feasible way, such that it would become totally incorporated. Sounds like a futile, sticky mess to me! Best to just start from scratch.
Cream of tartar? So that's the secret. If I bought sugar cookie dough to bake in the oven, is there a way I can add the ceam of tartar and the baking soda to get the crackling effect?