Gluten-free snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are one of my all-time favorite cookies (and also one of my favorite words to say!) C'mon, say it: Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle. You have heard of Snickerdoodles, right? I was shocked a couple of days ago when a friend said, "What are those?" when I mentioned this cookie.

With the holiday baking spirit starting to take over in my house, I decided now is the time to find out if gluten-free Snickerdoodles would be just as delicious as the traditional ones.

I searched the web looking for recipes, thinking that I might try several, but one in particular kept surfacing time and again with rave reviews. There were other GF recipes that were for variations on the original, but I was looking for the tried and true cinnamon/sugary delight known as Snickerdoodles.

The recipe is from The Gluten Free Baker by Robin Ryberg

Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup potato starch

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp corn starch

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp xantham gum

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp water

Cinnamon-Sugar Coating

Mix together

3 Tbsp sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together potato starch, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder, xantham gum and salt.

Add the dry ingredients along with the 2 Tbsp of water to the sugar/shortening. Mix very well to eliminate any lumps in the dough.

Lightly oil hands or spray with cooking spray (I sprayed) to handle the dough as it is quite sticky.

Shape into small balls using a slightly-rounded teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet (again, I used cooking spray). The original recipe calls for each ball to be pressed to about 1/3-inch even thickness, but I forgot to do that after the first batch and didn't notice a difference.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. A single cookie should be removed at the shortest baking time to test for doneness. Browning is not a good indicator for these cookies.

This recipe made 3 dozen, 2 dozen of which were consumed practically on the spot. The remaining dozen were nibbled away all day.

Now that I've shared one of my favorite cookies, please share yours! I looooove cookies!