Hellobee

The idea of two things mashed together is extremely appealing. There are a certain number of foods that I love piling together in a bowl and smushing with a fork to provide the maximum amount of mash-up-ratio. Cake and ice cream. Red velvet cake & cheesecake (thanks, Cheesecake Factory). Turkey and mashed potatoes. Fruit and yogurt.

And now, my new favourite mash-up. The Snickersnap.

The abundance of spices around Christmastime mean that I am forever making gingersnaps and snickerdoodles. They’re easy to make, delicious, and always a big hit. As I was gathering ingredients for our annual Family Bake Day (I wrote about that last year), it hit me. How delicious would those two cookies taste TOGETHER? The gingery, molasses-y crunch of a gingersnap. The soft and fluffy cinnamon-based bite of a snickerdoodle. All rolled together in a mix of cinnamon and sugar.

Some Googling showed me that no, I didn’t invent this. The idea is out there, lovingly called Gingerdoodles. But Snickersnaps is just so FUN-sounding…and I needed to give them a try. I combined my tried-and-true snickerdoodle recipe with a slightly sturdier-than-average gingersnap recipe, and this was the result:

Snickersnaps

Snickerdoodle Dough:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat dough until it comes together. Set aside.

Gingersnap Dough:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until thoroughly incorporated. Add molasses (tip: spray the measuring cup with nonstick spray so the molasses just slides out), and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, beat dough well, and set aside.

When the two doughs are finished, mix together a bowl of 1/2 cup white sugar and 3 tbsp cinnamon. Take a small piece of each dough, smush them together, and roll the ball in the cinnamon sugar. Repeat a few dozen times. These will spread a decent amount, so space apart by about 2 inches or so. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 11 minutes.