Bready or Not: Philly Snickerdoodles

I tweak a lot of recipes as I make them or remake them, but it's not too often that I create a recipe entirely my own. It feels like building a short story, really--"What happens if I mix this and this?"

Only short stories don't pack on calories or have the potential to burn my house down if I forget about them. Or do they?



This recipe emerged from several circumstances.
- I had a block of cream cheese with a "best by" date of the next week
- I wanted a surprise for my husband for our anniversary, and was thinking along the lines of his favorites like lemon or snickerdoodles
- I was super busy and didn't want anything complex



Because of the cream cheese, I thought of doing my Philly Chippers recipe. It's such a good stand-by. My husband would like them, true enough, but they wouldn't be a favorite.

Then I remembered seeing a snickerdoodle recipe with cinnamon chips on Pinterest. I had a bag of cinnamon chips in the cupboard, which isn't something I normally have. Things started to add up in my mind and I scratched out an experimental recipe that melded the Gold Medal snickerdoodle recipe with Philly Chippers, with a bonus of cinnamon chips.

My husband was very, very, happy with his anniversary surprise. So was everyone else who tried them, too.

The cream cheese makes for a luscious, rich dough, and everything else about these sings about snickerdoodles--the cream of tartar, the combo of cinnamon and sugar, even the crackled finish on top.



Yum.

Philly Snickerdoodles
formed by combining my faithful snickerdoodle recipe with my Philly chippers recipe

1 cup butter (two cubes), softened
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag cinnamon chips

3 Tablespoons sugar
3 heaping teaspoons cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 350.

2) Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and slowly incorporate them with the wet ingredients. Add the cinnamon chips.

3) Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

4) Use a tablespoon scoop or tablespoon to drop dough into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Use a spoon to roll the ball around so it's completely covered. Transfer to a cookie sheet.

5) Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave them on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to a rack to cool.

OM NOM NOM.