Now, I know you have heard me preach about how I am not much of a cookie person, but I do have a soft spot for Snickerdoodles. I am not sure why. It may stem from the fact that this cookie is a close cousin of the sugar cookie, which is my absolute favorite type.This type of cookie always stands out in my mind because of two characteristics. One, it has that signature crackled top due to rolling the dough in a cinnamon sugar mixture prior to baking. Two, it always calls for cream of tartar, which always kind of confused me as an ingredient. Now, I actually had to go look this up, because it was bothering me, but I guess cream of tartar is actually a type of salt that helps activate baking soda (which is also in the recipe). I do not know why, or if, you wanted to know this fact, but now you have learned your piece of random food trivia for the day! Great fact to share at your next cocktail or dinner party if you ask me...
Now if you are expecting me to have some insight as to why these cookies are called Snickerdoodles, you may be sadly mistaken. Due to my quick web research, it seems like everyone has a different theory as to how this name came about. The best theory I came across was from The Joy of Cooking and they claim it comes from a German word for a type of cinnamon roll that translates to "snail noodle". Hmmm... I think Snickerdoodle sounds a lot more appetizing than snail noodle, but if you want to call them snail noodles from now on, be my guest! :-)
