Snickerdoodle Upgrades

Why mess with success? That was the initial comment from a friend when I shared my testing of some snickerdoodle variations. Then, she tasted the "experiments."

Ah, that's why. New taste sensations are always good for variety.

Yes, snickerdoodles may be a favorite cookie for just about any sweets lover, but how can you grow wrong if you update it with some fall flavors, including apple butter, or if you add in chocolate.

So today, here are two new ways to make these easy little cookies. And if you have hide-bound traditionalists who still want the old basics, you can split the chocolate variation recipe and just roll some of the cookie balls in sugar and cinnamon and flatten as always. Then you'll have two kinds of cookies to offer your family or guests!



I happened upon a great sale on a dark chocolate peanut butter blend at Costco, so that is what I used to top the chocolate version. Regular peanut butter or Nutela or a similar product would probably work just as well.

As I noted when I originally posted the basic mayonnaise snickerdoodle recipe (here: http://frugalfastfun.blogspot.com/2014/05/mayonnaise-in-unexpected-places.html ), these don't have raw eggs (so the kids can nibble away at the dough with no worries) but there is egg in the mayo, so they aren't vegan. I have been doing some research on line, and it appears that vegan mayo can be substituted for regular mayo in most recipes. Frugal as I am, I have never bought the vegan version, but I would love to hear from anyone who wants to try one of these variations with vegan mayo.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles

1 c mayonnaise
1 c sugar
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon

chocolate drink mix powder (like Quik; NOT hot chocolate mix)
chocolate peanut butter

1.  Beat together the mayonnaise, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
2.  Sift the dry ingredients together and stir into the mayonnaise mixture, mixing until well-blended. The dough will have the consistency of play dough.
3.  Place about 2 tablespoons of the dry chocolate drink mix powder into a small bowl. Shape the dough into ping pong or golf ball-sized balls, and roll each in the powder until well coated. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4.  Using the handle of a wood spoon or other utensil with a large round end, make an indentation in each cookie. Place a small dollop of the chocolate peanut butter into the cavity in each cookie. (I used about 1/4 teaspoon but don't try to measure! That will be just too messy and not worth the effort.)





5.  Bake in a 350 degree oven about 7 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Allow to sit for a minute or two on the pan before moving to a cooling rack, as they are very easily broken fresh out of the oven.

Autumn Snickerdoodles Variation

1.  Follow the recipe above, but substitute 2 t pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon.
2.  Roll the cookies in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon--about 1 t cinnamon to 1/2 c sugar.
3.  Place a small amount of apple butter in the indentations instead of peanut butter.