Happy baking season, friends! I’m having so much fun with The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange! I’m so thrilled that Erin from The Speckled Palate invited me to this event.
I don’t know about y’all, but there is just something for me about holiday baking that’s just so nostalgic. I can’t remember a childhood Christmas without my grandparents. There were always cookies (snickerdoodles were a fave) and other fantastic sweets involved. My gram made the absolute best peanut butter fudge in the whole wide world. And trust me, if I could find that recipe it would be on this here website. I promise to keep looking.
I’ve mentioned a few times before how I inherited my gram’s recipe box her dad made for her back in 1932 when she married my pap.
This date is absolutely no reflection of my age. I’m just sayin’……..
I tend to digress. Why aren’t you keeping me on track here? I had a point. At some point. Really. I promise.
Right. Christmas cookies. My point was that I always think about Christmas with my grandparents, the wonderful cookies my gram made, and how magical it was spending time with my family while waiting for Santa. My pap used to sneak out of the house and run around with sleigh bells so my sister, Molly (she got the cool name!) and I would think Santa was circling the house and waiting for us to go to bed before he could shimmy down our non-existent chimney. We used to scramble to get the cookies and milk ready, run to bed, and do our best to fall asleep while giggling the whole time.
So, in order to try to tie this together with snickerdoodles and my ramblings, when I received the invitation to join The Sweetest Cookie Exchange, I went all retro and raided my gram’s recipe box to share with you all the flavors and cookies of my magical Christmas childhood. I thought snickerdoodles was a good place to begin with my family’s recipes since I love them so much and they’re so classic.
Happy Holidays, Y’all! And don’t forget about the giveaway!

Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
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Beat together shortening, sugar, and eggs
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Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt
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Add in dry to wet in thirds, incorporating in between
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Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight
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Preheat oven to 400
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Mix the 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
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Roll into balls
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Roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture
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Set 2 inches apart on parchment or silicone lined baking sheet
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Bake 10-15 minutes, depending on size
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Cool on baking sheet a few minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack
I received free product from Imperial Sugar, Dixie Crystals and Bob’s Red Mill as part of The Sweetest Season Cookie Exchange. As always, all opinions and recipe are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Beer Girl Cooks!
OMG! I wanted to reach out and grab one of those cookies! ( You could make me some……….just sayin ) I thought Gram’s fudge recipe was in her special box………or maybe it was in her head and not to share. I actually have that bowl she used to beat the heck out of that fudge. Christmas was certainly a special time for our family. Thank you for sharing.
Or you could just come over and have some of the ones I already made! I’m going back to the box to look again and I’m going to need that bowl! It goes with my rolling pin! 🙂
That sounds good to me.
🙂
Oh my gosh, my husband did the same thing that your pap did. I could literally feel the butterflies in their stomachs when they heard those bells. Such a great story of your childhood, Rachelle. 🙂
Alex’s boyfriend loves snickerdoodles. I’m going to make this with my vegan substitutions, but one question first. You mention pumpkin in the instructions but I don’t see it on the recipe list.
Heavens to Betsy! There’s no pumpkin in snickerdoodles! I must have had sugar plums and fairies dancing in my head! Thanks for letting me know, Linda and I’ve made the revision. I totally remember the butterflies when I was a kid and when my parents did the same when my daughter was little! Happy holidays!
Your Grandma’s recipe box is the cutest thing ever and how sweet that it was made by her Dad. I cherish family items like that 🙂 About this recipe…snickerdoodles are the best and I love them so much (especially right out of the oven when they are nice and soft and warm). Yumy in my tummy! I guess if you like snickerdoodles, you can’t be all that weird.
That recipe box is my blood diamond, girl! I love it with all my heart and there is nothing that isn’t human that I love more. I’m totally weird – I think we’ve established that. Those cookies right from the oven are totally the bomb!
I agree with Karrie on the recipe box, cutest thing EVER! And I love that your dad use to run around the house with bells so that you guys would think it was santas sleigh and go to sleep!! Also LOVE these cookies! Snickerdoodles are one of my all time favorite cookies and these look perfect, Rachelle! Send me 10 dozen!! Xoxo
Send you? Dude! You’re like right down the road! Get over here and I’ll make you some snickerdoodles and brew you some beer! I may even grab the sleigh bells and run around the house to make you think santa is coming! 🙂
Your grandmothers recipe box is so pretty and such a great family heirloom to pass down! These cookies look delicious…i love snickerdoodle cookies!
Thanks, girls! I love that recipe box!
I love that you have your grandmother’s recipe box- what an awesome keepsake 🙂 These cookies look so delicious and cinnamony!
Thanks, Medha! I’m very lucky! 🙂
That is such a cute little recipe box. I need something like that to keep all of mine organised.
This really is baking season for me, as I only bake in the month of December.
I usually only bake in December and part of November too, Dannii! My waistline absolutely cannot afford it!
I am a huge fan of cinnamon in desserts, so it pretty much goes without saying that snickerdoodles are one of my all-time favorite cookie! These look perfect…nice and chewy! And wow, your dad was one cool dude. I love the whole sneaking outside with sleigh bells thing. I might have to keep that one in my bag of tricks. 🙂
You definitely need sleigh bells in your bag of tricks, David! I don’t think you need to worry about it this year, but in the next couple of years…. Seriously, it’s magical!
Oh yessss, such a nostalgic time! These cookies are one of our favorites – actually my daughter Luc is the master in our house! I’m hoping to do something a little special in the name of snickerdoodle next week! Thanks for sharing, friend!
Special in the name of snickerdoodle? I can’t wait!