Spiked Snickerdoodle Sugar Cookie
“When it comes to gingerbread, I am a purist. I want it simple but flavorful,” shared Rebecca McBride of Batch Please Cookie Co. based in Harlingen. This is no surprise as McBride spent her holidays baking bread from scratch with her grandma in a house that was built with her grandpa’s own weathered hands. Growing up in coastal areas of Virginia, McBride had an occasional white Christmas but even more memorable were the twinkling lights of Juniper Street and her grandma’s phenomenal baking. “Almost all of my recipes are from her original recipe book, with some special tweaks.” Take, for example, her spiked snickerdoodle. The original recipe makes cinnamon the heavy hitter, but McBride’s version makes Screwball Cookie Dough Bourbon the shining star, with a depth of flavor that bursts through with the first bite. There is no need to worry because the alcohol content burns off in the oven, so Santa will stay nice and sober on his flight around the world.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (450 grams) softened butter
- 2 cups (402 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons (29.5 milliliters) vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (59 milliliters) bourbon, Screwball Cookie Dough Bourbon preferred (optional)
- 6 cups (750 grams) flour
- 3 tablespoons (23.4 grams) cinnamon
- ¼ cup (30.5 grams) cornstarch
- For the topping
- 1 tablespoon (8.3 grams) cinnamon
- 2 cups (400 grams) brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Cream butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs, extract and, if using, bourbon. Mix until well incorporated.
- Blend dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add 1 cup at a time, mixing between each cup. Dough should cleanly pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. If not, add ¼ cup of flour.
- Take a generous portion of dough out of mixing bowl to roll out between parchment paper. Fluff the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture with a fork to evenly incorporate.
- With the dough rolled out, generously sprinkle the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture over it by hand. Roll dough upon itself like a cinnamon roll. Then re-roll the dough, sprinkle again and cut out your preferred shapes. Repeat this process until all dough is used.
- Bake cookies on parchment paper-lined baking sheet for 9 to 12 minutes as ovens may vary. Baking time is based upon dough flattened to a 3/8-inch thickness. If rolled thinner, reduce baking time.