These are Bailey's absolute favorite cookie, you can offer her a spread of cookies decorated with candies or colorful jimmies but as long as there are snickerdoodles with pink sugar on them she has no trouble choosing.
Bailey's Snickerdoodles
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt, I use kosher
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons pink decorative sugar crystals
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a couple of ungreased cookie sheets/jelly roll pans in your fridge to chill.
2. Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs together in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Slowly add these into the butter, sugar and egg mixture mixing well after each addition.
4. Once dough is thoroughly mixed it needs to chill. You can leave it in the bowl and stick it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or roll it tightly in saran wrap and deal with it tomorrow.
5. in a shallow bowl stir together sugar, cinnamon and decorative sugar crystals.
6. Retrieve dough and pans from fridge. You can line your pans with parchment or a Silpat mat but it isn't necessary. Grab a hunk of dough and get rolling. Each ball should be about one inch across.
7. Roll (don't smush) each ball in the cinnamon, sugar mixture and place on the cookie sheet.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes.
Yields about 30 cookies.
Tips: The first batch might take a minute or two longer as the dough is straight from the fridge. Unless you put the dough back in the fridge between batches the later batches might not take as long, keep an eye on them. I stick my jelly roll pans back in the fridge between batches to prevent spread.
Bailey says you don't have to use pink crystals either but they won't taste as good if you don't.