100 Cookies' Giant Pan-Banged Snickerdoodles-Famous Fridays

Feeling a little aggressive but strangely at the same time desperately in need of the most wonderful giant crinkly snickerdoodles you’ve ever tasted?!! Then today is your lucky day! Yes sir! Today we celebrate these seriously amazing Giant Pan-Banged Snickerdoodles from the seriously amazing 100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars and More by Sarah Keiffer. Calling all my cookie monsters—this is one Famous Fridays edition you are not going to want to miss!!🍪🍪 (couldn’t find a snickerdoodle emoji, lol!)

Before we get to the joy of unleashing all your frustrations on a cookie sheet and actually having the cookies come out better because of it, let’s talk about the joy of 100 Cookies, because I guarantee that flipping through its pages will make you feel happier. How could it not? Guys, this book is chock-full of the most wonderful classic and not-so-classic cookie recipes accompanied by gorgeous photos and all sorts of helpful tips. It’s also organized into 7 different chapters that range from “The Classics” to “Brownies + Blondies”, “The Next Level” and” Pan-Banging Cookies”, which is what I’m featuring today with these irresistible snickerdoodles.

The pan-banging method, created by Sarah, who is also the author of the wildly popular Vanilla Bean Baking blog, came about years ago, when she was angry about a ball of cookie dough that refused to spread out in the oven. In frustration, she “banged” the pan down in the oven and a happy accident occurred- the cookies flattened out and got gorgeously ripply. Necessity is the mother of invention, or something like that, right? In any case, spurred on by her success, Sarah got to work perfecting the pan-banging method and a couple of years ago, her recipe for a chocolate chip version went viral. I’ve actually featured them here on the site and you should definitely make them when you have a chance.

But today we are all about these amazing snickerdoodles!

They come together quickly and easily with pantry and fridge staples and the pan-banging process is super easy. My only real advice is that you warn anyone else that’s home while you’re baking these, or someone is bound to come racing into the kitchen thinking that some catastrophe has happened!!

What the banging does is help every cookie ball flatten out into huge rounds and develop crispy, crinkly edges while the centers remain sort of soft and chewy.

Which means that with every bite you get the perfect balance of sweet cinnamony chewy crispness!!

And the fact that these are HUGE does not hurt either—so much to love!!

So…bake up a batch of these enormously delicious cookies asap, these would definitely make a fun weekend project, plus it’s a great way to release any pent-up anger 😘 and pick up a copy of 100 Cookies—it really is a fun book to own! Have a wonderful and safe weekend, my friends!xoxo

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100 Cookies’ Giant Pan-Banged Snickerdoodles

Makes 12 enormous cookies

Prep Time: 10-12 minutes; Bake Time: 14-15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

• 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter

• 1 ¾ cup sugar, divided

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

The Recipe

1. Make sure rack is centered in oven and preheat to 350ºF. Line 3 rimmed sheet pans with aluminum foil, dull side up and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.

3. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter on medium speed, until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add 1 ½ cups of the sugar, and beat for a few minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low speed to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until well combined.

4. In a small bow, mix together the remaining ¼ cup sugar and the cinnamon.

5. Form the dough into 3 ounce (¼ cup) balls and roll each ball into the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat well. Place 4 cookies an equal distance apart on the prepared cookie sheets.

6. Bake the sheets one pan at a time for 8 minutes, until the dough balls have flattened but are puffed slightly in the center. Lift up one side of the sheet pan about 4 inches off the oven rack and let it drop back down onto the rack, so that the edges of the cookies set and the centers fall down. Close the oven door and cook for another 2 minutes, then repeat the lifting and banging process. Repeat a few more times, cooking for 2 minutes and then banging again, to create ripply ridges around the edges of the cookies. Bake for a total of 14-15 minutes, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown but the centers are much lighter and not entirely cooked. They will finish cooking as they cool and this will keep them chewy.

7. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cookies from the sheet and let finish cooling on the wire rack until completely cool. Meanwhile, bake the remaining sheets, again, one at a time.

8. Store cookies in an airtight container for a few days, if they last that long!!

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from 100 Cookies by Sarah Kieffer. I followed the recipe pretty closely except that I left out the ¼ teaspoon nutmeg because it’s not a favorite around here.