There’s a special cookie for any self-respecting baker out there. One that means a little more to them because of where they first learned to bake it or who they baked it with. 

Cookie recipes are like snippets of baking heritage. They take such a small amount of time to prep and finish that they are like the brevity and brilliance of a solar flare. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I am more the baker in our household than my wife. That being said, she just whipped up a killer tractor-style cake for our son’s birthday party, and even decorated it like a New Holland in classic blue-and-white.

One of the first things I learned to bake when I was in middle school was a snickerdoodle. I would even go so far as to say that it was one of the recipes that inspired me to bake going forward. I was in home economics class, and we had a photocopy of an old printout to go by. I remember the objectives of the lesson were to learn how to top off accurate ingredient measurements and follow the steps of the recipe, rather than doing what I would normally do—which was dump all the ingredients in a bowl and blend them together until it was uniform. Sacrilege, I know.

In any event, it also didn’t hurt that I really, really liked the taste of these classic Christmas cookies. 

Only recently have I stopped to consider the paramount ingredient in snickerdoodles. Cream of tartar. There’s a post on social media floating around explaining its chemical makeup and all of its uses. It got me thinking about some other ideas for using it where it might not be originally called for, such as in lemon bars or cookies or even one of my favorites—a lemon poppy seed muffin. Stay tuned if you’re as hungry—I mean inspired as I am. 

In any case, the bottom line of cream of tartar’s grand presence is twofold: First, it is a leavener and creates a delicate rising effect wherever used. In this case, nice fluffy cookies that stay soft and chewy long after they’ve cooled. 

Second, it adds tang. Why? Well, simply put cream of tartar is a byproduct of winemaking. Grapes provide a unique natural level of tartaric acid, which is separated as wine is produced. 

As a result, we have this wonder ingredient that literally makes snickerdoodles possible. If not for cream of tartar, snickerdoodles would just be a cinnamon-dusted sugar cookie, and if you’ve ever tasted the two, you know there’s a distinct difference. 

The way out here we’ll be putting a few of these out by the Christmas tree this season—but make no mistake, there will be plenty more at our family festivities. If for no one else’s pleasure but that of the baker. Then again, my two sugar-loving children will most likely be serious competition for those as well. 

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from our kitchen out here to yours.