Yotam Ottolenghi's pumpkin spice snickerdoodles recipe
Legendary chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi shared this irresistible pumpkin spice snickerdoodle recipe with Andrew Green, author of the cookbook Knead Peace. The book is a unique collection of recipes from the world's best bakers, in support of Ukraine.
Ottolenghi says: "Snickerdoodles are hard not to love at any time of the year: they’re slightly cakey in the centre, crisp at the edges, cracked on top and rolled in cinnamon sugar; they’re also great as the base for an ice-cream sandwich.
"Here, we’ve given them an autumnal, pumpkin spice twist. The cookies keep in a sealed jar for up to a week, and can also be baked straight from frozen, in which case add a minute to the baking time."
Ingredients
For the pumpkin spice mix- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 0.2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 50 g demerara (turbinado) sugar
- 340 g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 250 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 300 g caster (superfine) sugar
- 0.5 tsp sea salt flakes
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
Details
- Cuisine: American-inspired
- Recipe Type: Cookie
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 90 mins
- Cooking Time: 12 mins
- Serves: 10
Step-by-step
- First make the pumpkin spice mix. Put the cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg in a small bowl, spoon two teaspoons of the mix into a large bowl, add the flour, bicarb (soda) and cream of tartar, and set aside. Add the sugar to the remaining spice mix in the small bowl and set that aside too.
- Now for the dough. Put the butter, sugar and half a teaspoon of salt in the bowl of a free-standing mixer with the paddle attachment in place. Mix on a medium-high speed for 10 minutes, until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and egg, and continue mixing on a medium-high speed for one minute, until everything is well incorporated.
- With the motor running, add the flour mixture in 3 batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Scrape the dough to the bottom of the bowl, making sure there are no bits stuck to the sides, then cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, until firm and rollable.
- Heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan//390ºF/Gas 6. Line a large baking tray (sheet) with nonstick baking paper.
- Divide the dough into 40g pieces and roll into firm balls: you should end up with 22. One at a time, roll the balls in the spice and sugar mixture, to coat well (if it doesn’t stick, warm the balls slightly in your hands first).
- Lay the balls on the lined tray (sheet), spacing them out well apart – they will spread a lot while baking, so leave at least 5cm between each ball, and if need be, use two trays and/or bake them in batches.
- Bake for nine minutes for a gooier cookie and up to 12 for a firmer one, then remove, transfer to a rack to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe extracted from Knead Peace: Recipes from the world's best bakers in support of Ukraine by Andrew Green (Kyle Books, £25). Photography by Jessica Wang.
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