Recipe - Snickerdoodles

When the weather turns colder I like to have cakes and biscuits around the house to snack on with our hot drinks. If you ahven't already guessed, I'm not much of one for watching my waistline! Baking is so comforting on cold days, I love the smell of warm spiciness in the kitchen and my favourite cinnamon and nutmeg flavours really come into their own.

These are neither cakes nor biscuits but something inbetween. This is a Rachel Allen recipe, there aren't many of her recipes that I have been impressed with but Snickerdoodles are a regular treat during the run up to Christmas. They are kind of unusual (guests never know what to make of them!) but delicious

You will need

4 1/2 oz butter, softened
4 oz caster sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
9 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated if you have some)
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

For dusting
1 dsp caster sugar
1 dsp ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees

Cream the butter in a large bowl (I use my hand mixer) Add the caster sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract

Sift in the flour, nutmeg, baking powder and salt and gently mix together to form a dough

Mix the dsps of sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls then roll them in the sugar and cinnamon mix until well coated. Place on baking trays about 1 inch apart and flatten with your palm

Bake for around 15 minutes, until they are firm around the edges

Stand on their baking trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool

Enjoy with a cup of tea or a cinnamon latte!

Let me know if you give this recipe a try!