Sisters Gourmet Cinnamon Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix

As most of you know by now, I'm a frequent shopper on the gourmet food aisle at TJ Maxx. When I bake the stuff I buy, I like to post my reviews just so you guys know what's good, as well as what to avoid. Usually the products aren't bad. (I wouldn't say they're worth their gourmet price tag, but they typically aren't horrible.) Well, friends, I found a horrible one: Sisters Gourmet Cinnamon Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix. Save your $3.00, and go buy a bag of all-purpose flour with it! That's pretty much all you get with this mix. The ingredients that came in the cookie dough mix were flour, sugar, and baking powder. It also came with a packet of cinnamon sugar. The instructions tell you to blend the cookie dough mix with shortening and an egg. This alerted me because there is NO flavoring whatsoever in these cookies. Not butter, and certainly not vanilla. Ew! I continued on.
I rolled the little balls of flavorless cookie dough in the cinnamon sugar and baked them just until the edges were set.
The centers were still gooey, but I took them out to ensure chewy cookies. Boy was I mistaken! When they cooled, they turned into flavorless cinnamon sugar hockey pucks. Disgusting! Worst of all, they had the "Captain Crunch" effect... ya know how it cuts the roof of your mouth? Let's put it this way: I wouldn't take them if they were free.
If you have a box of this mix already sitting in your pantry, you might be able to save them by using butter instead of shortening and adding at least 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. But don't get your hopes up.

Christmas Cookie Caper '08: #5 - Snickerdoodles

Here's another cookie recipe that isn't new, but it's still really REALLY good! I'm a newfound snickerdoodle lover. I never even knew what they were until Josh asked me to make them last year because they're his favorite cookie. If you've never had one either, they're sugar cookies coated with cinnamon sugar. They're slightly crunchy around the edges and perfectly soft in the center. Definitely a keeper in the Christmas Cookie Caper's Final 5! This recipe comes from AllRecipes.com (my favorite recipe website). I'm pretty sure this is the highest rated Snickerdoodle recipe. It totally deserves first place. Leave these for Santa and you are SO getting the best presents on the block!

Snickerdoodles
Makes about 30 large cookies

MY NOTES: Increase the cinnamon-sugar coating to 3 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon. If you make them smaller, they will be done in 7 minutes. Mine were done in 9 minutes. They are slightly crunchy around the edges and soft in the middle... Yum!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Hey! It's been quite a while, has it not? I hope people still drop by to read this and don't think I fell off the face of the earth. Anywho, a lot has happened. I went out of the country, I came back into the country, I still have jet lag, my boyfriend and I are "taking a break," I made some cookies, then finally got around to making cupcakes (next entry).

These cookies are worth a mention: Snickerdoodles! Before now, I had never made these cookies, nor had I ever even been in their presence. I must say I am now a huge fan of snickerdoodles, and everyone should try this recipe!

Since I'd never made them before, I had no clue how big the make the balls.
These are about 2 inches wide. I still don't know how big a snickerdoodle is supposed to be,
but mine came out about 4 inches across.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

MY NOTES: Increase the cinnamon-sugar coating to 3 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp cinnamon. If you make them smaller, they will be done in 7 minutes. Mine were done in 9 minutes. They are slightly crunchy around the edges and soft in the middle... Yum!

Snickerdoodles
Makes about 30 large cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.