Snickerdoodle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A snickerdoodle is a soft sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar. It has a characteristically crackly surface, and can be crisp or soft, depending on preference, the distinctive and characteristic flavor of a snickerdoodle is provided by cream of tartar. They typically are easy to make. Some variants include nutmeg, raisins, chocolate chips, or nuts. In modern recipes, the leavening agent is usually baking powder which, in baking, is most commonly used in cakes but not often in cookies.

[edit] Origins

The name "snickerdoodle" originated from an old German baker named Paul Gramm. As the legend goes, his assistant (a young Irish cobbler named Christopher Rasnick) used to have the nickname "doodle". Often he performed fabulous tricks around the bakery that would cause the local villagers to "snicker". This is widely believed to be the way that this famous cookie was born. In Renaissance England, a cookie called a “jumble” was popular in the cuisine. Later, Germans were known to have added more spices and a variety of different dried fruits, eventually evolving into the gingerbread cookie. Cookbooks from the 18th and 19th centuries have also contained recipes comparable to the Snickerdoodle.^[1]

The origin of the name “Snyckerdoodle” has given rise to many theories but few facts. The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word for "snail dumpling" (Schneckennudeln, or cinnamon-dusted sweet rolls).^{[citation needed]} Similarly, one author states that “the word `snicker' may have come from a Dutch word `snekrad,' or the German word `Schnecke,` both describing a snail-like shape.”^[1] However, another author believes the name came from a New England tradition of fanciful, whimsical cookie names,^[2] and yet another cites a series of tall tales around a hero named Snickerdoodle from the early 1900s.^[3]

[edit] References