Browned Butter Snickerdoodles

I'm back! Our family had a lot of fun on a little Disney vacation, a family reunion in Georgia, and celebrating Thanksgiving these past two weeks. Time to get back to life though. Gotta hit those school books hard with the kids until Christmas! But I will be making plenty of time for some holiday baking and food creations. I'm kind of excited to be in America with endless aisles of grocery store goodness to play with. Every year my holiday baking starts with Snickerdoodles on the day after Thanksgiving. I decided when my oldest was small that I wanted the house to smell like Christmas as we decorated our tree. I wanted to try to make a special tradition and memory for them to grab on to. I think it has worked. My big kids were so excited when I pulled out the dough and the cinnamon sugar. I mean there isn't a lot that is better than tree decorating, warm cookies, and cider or hot chocolate! Now, about the Snickerdoodles. There are regular ol' Snickerdoodles and I've discovered there are also browned butter Snickerdoodles. If you've never tried them, you are missing out. They are AMAZING. Enough said. 

Browned Butter Snickerdoodles

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1 egg yolk

1 Tbs vanilla

1 Tbs whipping cream (could use yogurt or whole milk)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

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1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Using a relatively thick bottomed skillet or pot, slice in the butter and heat over medium heat. Butter will melt, foam, and sizzle a bit. Stir or shake pan regularly. Don't leave it as the butter browns quickly once it starts. You'll notice little browned bits in the bottom and it will have a nutty, toasted smell. Remove from heat quickly once its begun to brown. If you get it really browned, move to another bowl so the heat from the pan will not continue to brown it. Allow to cool a bit. 

Mix together the browned butter and the sugars until well blended. Add in egg, egg yolk, vanilla and cream. Mix in flour, cream of tarter, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt just until blended. Refrigerate for about 2 hours. 

When dough is chilled, scoop into 24 round balls (could maybe get 36 small cookies). Roll in cinnamon  sugar mixture and place on a greased or lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350F (180C) for 8-10 minutes. Take them out when still slightly puffy for a chewy texture! 

Variation: I have made these in a salted caramel version from this blog. You just need about 6 Kraft caramels, unwrapped and cut into 4 pieces each. Press one piece into each dough ball and completely cover before rolling in the cinnamon sugar mix. Then sprinkle a little sea salt on the cookie balls before baking!