Snickerdoodles

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

• Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.

• Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

• Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

Best snickerdoodle ever!!! If you're having a problem with flat cookies, there could be two reasons. Check your baking soda and Cream of Tartar to make sure they're fresh. Baking soda goes flat pretty soon after opening the box. I start a new box almost every month. To test it, just put a tiny bit of the soda in some water. If it doesn't start fizzing immediately, it's not any good. Also, if your eggs are too big the dough will spread too much. Most recipes call for large eggs, not extra large. When I make this recipe, I usually pour off just a tiny bit of the egg white, because I like my cookies puffy. Hope this helps, because I've tried a lot of snickerdoodle recipes, and this is by far the best.

HELPFUL TIPS: Bake for 8 min exactly! ...and you can even wait a few min. for it to cool on the cookie sheet just get it out of the oven!

1st: Use butter AND eggs that are room temp. I've used all butter w/excellent results.

2nd: Mix dry & wet separately.

3rd: Hand mix or you'll get a different result. Do not overmix. I never have cream of tartar, so I use 2 tsp. of white vinegar OR lemon juice.

4th: I used a medium scoop. For the topping, I used 3T. sugar & 3.5 tsp. of cinnamon dumped in ziplock bag. Do not be afraid to over coat. It will NOT turn out too sweet !!! Coat well. :)

**For a REALLY quick and mess-free method of rolling balls of dough in cinnamon/sugar mixture, place mixture in a sandwich baggie and drop one ball in at a time to coat.