Buttery Snickerdoodles

Well, he left us.

Matthew is officially a full-day Kindergartner and couldn't be happier about it. He woke up bright and early on his first day of school and woke me up while chanting: "I'm so excited to go to school!"

I, however, was not so ready for this moment. For breakfast, Matthew and I split a large serving of scrambled eggs and then I helped him get his uniform on. We then woke up his sisters, snapped a few photos, and headed off to school. Each day, we are supposed to walk Matthew into the school gymnasium where he is to sit with his class until dismissed to his classroom by the morning bell. The path leading up to the gymnasium was crawling with parents, students, and little siblings all rushing about. It was a bit of a chaotic walk holding Lucy, grasping onto Emma's hand, and watching Matthew the big Kindergartner leading the way with his backpack swung confidently over his shoulder. When we finally reached the gym, Matthew suddenly became shy but his teacher waved him over to where the rest of his class was seated and he turned to give me a quick wave and then...that was it. He is now going to school full-time like he will be until he reaches adulthood. I had a lump in my throat as I walked somberly back to the car with my two girls. I think Emma shared my morose sentiments for upon strapping her back in her car seat she began to weep: "I miss Matthew! Please can I go with him?"

We pretty much watched the clock all day in anticipation of pick-up time. When it was finally time to head out the door, Emma moved faster than I have ever seen her go, rushing to strap her shoes on so she could go pick-up her big brother. I'm sure the day will come when she begins to relish the time she has alone with me, but for now she still is very much mourning the loss of her favorite playmate.

I am mourning the loss of having him at home all the time as well. Then, he was home all weekend and we had an extremely difficult time with him behavior-wise and suddenly I found myself thinking: "I can't wait until you go back to school on Monday, kid." Funny how that works.

For our cookie recipe for today, I am sharing a recipe for buttery snickerdoodles. Now, this was the last cookie that Matthew and I baked together with the intention of saving for school lunches. However, I must confess that these cookies never had a chance of making it into a packed lunch. Now with Paul around at least, for snickerdoodles are his favorite. Matthew and I made about four dozen of these and then made the grand mistake of leaving them in a plastic storage box on the counter-top for Paul to find. They were gone within 24 hours. He did have some help - Emma and Matthew voraciously devoured these too! I can't really blame them -these were awesome - and that's coming from someone who historically has not been a fan of the snickerdoodle.

A simple sugar cookie - addictively buttery and chewy - rolled in a cinnamon spice and sugar coating. These tasted like fall to me! At least the one cookie I tried did. Next time, I'm hiding these from Paul.

Buttery Snickerdoodles
from King Arthur Flour

For the Dough:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

For the Coating:
2 tablespoons sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets or line with parchment..

Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture, mixing until totally incorporated.

To make the coating: Shake together the sugar and cinnamon in a medium-sized zip-top plastic bag.

Drop 1" balls of dough into the bag; a teaspoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll/toss the cookies in the cinnamon-sugar until they're completely coated.

Space the cookies at least 1 1/2" apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use a flat-bottom glass to flatten them to about 3/8" thick; they'll be about 1 1/2" in diameter.

Bake the cookies for 8 minutes (for soft cookies) to 10 minutes (for crunchier cookies). Remove them from the oven, and cool them on the pan until they're firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool completely.