It has been noted by many people that this holiday season seems to be the year of the snicker doodle. The word has been uttered on cooking shows, sitcoms, even commercials in which the mailman smells snickerdoodles in an elf house.
The snickerdoodle is not a new concept to me in the least. My grandma always made them, and I reveled every time she did in the cool patterns formed by the cinnamon-sugar in which the delicate butter cookies were rolled. And they were always the same exact size, because grandma measured. Sometimes with a scoop or spoon, sometimes with a ruler to the millimeter.
Anyway, today was my stepdad David’s birthday party, and as usual, I charged myself with bringing something. My mom said to bring fruit. I think what I made and brought were quite possibly at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from fruit.
Oh, there was fruit:
And there were cocktails
And there was a truly amazing chocolate-hazelnut-raspberry-fuilletine cake made by Leigh
So what does this have to do with snickerdoodles? Those balls up there are snickerdoodle hush puppies. I made a fluffy and buttery cinnamon cornbread, fried it in balls (this is another post in which I say “balls” many times.) and then rolled said balls in cinnamon sugar, just like a snickerdoodle.
These are not, in any way, shape, or form, a health food. I tried to think of a redeeming quality other than nostalgic flavor and fun-to-eat shape (and the obligatory balls jokes)… nope. Nothing. But they’re delicious, I promise!
Snickerdoodle Hush Puppies
Ingredients (48 hush puppies)
for the hush puppies
- 3 cups cornbread mix (I used Aunt Jemima)
- 4 eggs
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- oil for frying
for the cinnamon-sugar coating
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ground sugar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the milk, eggs, vanilla and sugars.
- When well-combined, add in the cornbread mix.
- Stir until a thick batter forms.
- Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a small pot or deep fryer to 350°F.
- Fry in small batches (about 5-6 at a time) until golden brown and puffed.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Mix the cinnamon sugar together, and while the hush puppies are still hot, roll them in the mixture.
- Serve.
Everyone at the birthday party enjoyed the hush puppies as a side dish to our bagels-and-lox breakfast, and I’ve gotten a few messages saying just “yummy balls!”
Just an aside: these could easily be baked in a mini muffin tin for a similar effect, but they are then no longer hush puppies. A key thing about hush puppies is that they’re fried cornbread. If they’re not fried, they’re not hush puppies… but a cinnamon-sugar coated mini cornbread muffin is a pretty darn good snack too!
I’m currently baking a quadruple batch of Joy the Baker’s cinnamon pull-apart bread for a staff breakfast thing tomorrow. The house smells great! Just a warning though: do not pour hot browned butter into a new Pyrex bowl. You will then end up with browned-butter-coated glass bits and a big mess!
Thanks to Adam’s quick thinking and a lot of Windex, the mess is cleaned up, but MAN that was scary! The bowl just exploded!!! Apparently, that’s an issue with the newer Pyrex dishes.
Three more wake-ups until winter break, happy happy birthday to David, and a big, huge slightly early congratulations to Christina and Johnny who are getting married tomorrow!!! Love you guys!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
they were delicious!
Oh, I did that with a pyrex 9×13 in the oven!! so freak’n scary!
Those hush puppies look awesome though…and I want your sister’s cake!
Melissa @TryingtoHeal´s last [type] ..Comment on Turning It Around by Courtney (Pancakes and Postcards)
I’ve done that with a square pyrex dish too. Who knew those pans could shatter into a zillion pieces like that???!! Have a good week Mara!!
Roz@weightingfor50´s last [type] ..Cranberries anyone???
These hush puppies look AMAZING!!
Thanks Marla!!! Hope all is well with you