Snickerdoodles and a Day at the Races

John and I drove up the coast to Del Mar on Saturday morning, for the Gourmet Food Truck Festival and a day at the horse races. It was a mistake trying to do both. We were dressed for the Turf Club and close to 50 food trucks were lined up in a parking lot filled with thousands of people dressed more appropriately for that event - in shorts and flip flops. Whining the entire time while walking to the back parking lot in heels, and holding up the bottom of my long sundress so I wouldn't trip and fall on my face, I only lasted about 45 minutes. We managed to score some Italian meatballs at Mangia Mangia, but I didn't have the patience to wait in any more half-hour lines.

Thankfully, we were soon upstairs at the Turf Club, with cold drinks in hand, in time for me to win the first race on a horse called Include Me Out. Include Me Out...from standing in a hot, dusty parking lot, waiting in lines at food trucks, in heels and a dress. I don't care how gourmet the food has become out of those trucks.

This is where I really wanted to be...




There's no particular reason I'm combining a day at the races with Snickerdoodle cookies, other than the fact that I made them for one of the partners at my firm earlier in the week after he brought in some packaged Snickerdoodles and commented how much more he preferred homemade. For some reason, at 6:00 a.m. the following morning, I had a whim to make these cookies and surprise him. I think I deserve a raise - they were that good!

I don't believe I had ever made Snickerdoodles.  I followed the recipe posted by Jen at Use Real Butter, from Martha Stewart's Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share (Martha Stewart Living Magazine). I added 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and made the smaller version, rolling the dough into one-inch balls, which yielded 3 dozen cookies.  Mine took a bit longer to bake - closer to 15 minutes. They were done just as they started cracking on the top, and they puffed up beautifully. The inside texture is soft and cake-like, and the cinnamon-sugar ratio on the outside is just right.  A dozen went to the office, a few to Mom's, and the rest were devoured during Friday night's patio gathering. 

I'm sure there must be a race horse named Snickerdoodle, with all those other whimsical race horse names out there.