Thick and Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies

My niece asked if she could come over this weekend and make some cookies for one of her teachers with me.  Um...yes...I am always down for making cookies!  She requested snickerdoodles and we decided to try out a new recipe.  I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were and ate way more then I was planning too.  I am not the biggest fan of any cookie without chocolate in it...but these were darn tooting good!  After I made them I thought that they might also be good using pumpkin pie spice in the topping instead of straight cinnamon...this I will try next time!

My niece is 13 going on 21 and as we were baking she told me that she bakes cookies with her 2 friends a lot and that she is the one always telling them what to do.  She said she learned a lot from watching me bake and then baking with me, and then she said "you know all your tips and tricks really do work, I mean, scraping the bowl down really well in between mixing really does make a better cookie!"  Haha, not going to lie - it made me smile : )

These would make a good addition to any Christmas Cookie tray or tin.  I was contemplating getting started early on Christmas cookie dough baking this year since baby is due to arrive at beginning of December...but then realized I don't really have time to do that now either.  I'm hoping I can still manage some sort of less fancy Christmas cookie assortment for neighbors and friends this year...not sure I am capable of just letting Christmas go by without any Christmas baking.  Haha, but honestly, I probably won't even realize it is Christmas this year I will be so zonked out from having a newborn.

Did I mention we are having baby #2?  We are super excited and of course have nothing ready for baby again!  Names?  Nope.  Found a doula?  Nope.  Nothing is ready.  Somehow I blinked and we are in our third trimester already!  When I ask Charlie where baby is he points to my belly and then points to himself - he is so right...he will always be my baby : )



Thick and Chewy Snickerdooles
adapted from sallysbakingaddiction.com

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 and 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
  2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (not kosher or coarse)

Topping:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375°F  We have a gas oven that gets super hot so I actually preheated my oven to 360 instead...every oven is different so do what works for you!
2. Make the topping: mix 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Make the cookies: In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed. Then add the sugar on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides as needed and mix again.  Set aside.
4. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. The dough is quite thick and you may have to stir it by hand to fully incorporate the dry ingredients.
5. Scoop 2 Tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Roll the dough balls into the reserved cinnamon-sugar topping.  Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will be very puffy and soft.  Cookies remain soft & fresh for 7 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Carrot Cake Paleo Pancakes

Recently I received some bad news about someone and it really shook me up.  You know the kind of news where you suddenly can't breath and are basically in shock mode?  The kind of news where you start to question everything in your life and it just takes a while to process?  Yeah, that kind of crappy news.  When I received this news I basically spent 2 days shut in my house crying/processing while Charlie just played.  I think he knew I was having a hard time, because for 2 days he played happily by himself, didn't really cry or whine all that much and was just so sweet to me.  Every once in a while he would stop playing and just come over to me and give me a hug or kiss.  Then when I picked him up from his nap he clung to me in a tight hug and wouldn't let go - this is something he has never done before.  Also, once when I was crying he came up to me, looked me in the eye and wiped my tears away with his slimy little adorable hands.

How can one so little already know how to express such compassion?  It was as if he was saying without words, "I love you Momma, I'm sorry you are hurting, and I am here for you."  Made my Momma heart so happy to see him show this kindness to me.

If only we could all show this kind of compassion to others.  I had a friend call me after receiving this news, and the first thing she said was that she was sorry she didn't call sooner, but she didn't know what to say to me, but then realized that was a terrible reason to stay away and called anyway to let me know she was praying for us and was here for me if I needed her.  How many times have I done that?  Known someone was grieving or going through a hardship and didn't know what to say or do so I just stayed away.  Just because pain and suffering is uncomfortable and awkward doesn't mean we should stay away.  Christ shows us what to do.  He is on His cross suffering and uniting in our pain and suffering and calls us all to do the same to others.  When we see someone walking through a storm in their life we should walk beside them and help them carry their cross.  Knowing you are not alone in your pain and that people are there to help you through brings so much comfort.

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now and share this new recipe with you.  As many of you know I eat paleo pancakes pretty much every day for breakfast.  I was getting tired of my pumpkin and apple ones and started looking for some new options to add to my rotation.  If you have a food processor with a grate option - then these come together really quickly.  If you grate the carrots by hand it can be a bit tedious.

Terrible I phone pictures!

Carrot Cake Paleo Pancakes
adapted from Paleomg.com

1 cup carrots, shredded
3 eggs
½ cup almond flour
½ cup milk (almond milk, coconut milk, real milk - whatever kind of milk you use)
¼ cup walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoon melted coconut oil
2 tablespoon coconut flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup raisins

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl: almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and powder, and spices together.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients: carrots, eggs, milk, coconut oil, and raisins. Mix thoroughly.

Heat a skillet or pancake griddle up to medium-high heat and use coconut oil to grease the surface. 

Pour batter into small pancakes onto hot griddle. Cook on both sides for 3 minutes.

Top pancakes off with coconut butter and maple syrup.

Also, I make a double batch of these and store leftovers in the fridge and just eat them cold or toast them.  Charlie loves them too as a nice and easy snack or breakfast option.