Purple-Ribbon Cookies: Snickerdoodle Brownies

I went to the Kansas State Fair yesterday and didn't get my camera out until the grandstand show. I watched other people take cell phone photos of the giant pumpkins. I contemplated trying to get a shot of the butter sculpture through the glass reflecting another bevy of fairgoers snapping away. I didn't get a photo of the winning Governor's Cookie Jar or the Best of Show quilt. I didn't click away at the State Fair train as it rounded the tracks or snap a shot in the beef barns.

But as I shivered during the grandstand show with Aaron Watson and Jack Ingram, I kept glancing over at the midway rides which created a track of color as the lights bounced off the metal grandstand bleachers. And I finally got my camera out of the bag for a few shots. 

If Kinley and Brooke come to the fair next year, I'm guessing the camera will be a lot busier. But this year, I had more photos of the state-fair-purple-ribbon-winning Snickerdoodle Brownies that I'd made in my own kitchen earlier in the week.

The recipe comes from "Favorite 4-H Recipes" compiled by the Stevens County 4-H Council. (Thanks, Amy, for the gift!) As I was looking for a bar cookie recipe to take to the field for corn harvest earlier this week, I chose the Snickerdoodle Brownie recipe. You can't go wrong with a purple-winning fair recipe, right?

It would probably be more accurate to call it a "blondie," since it's not a chocolate brownie. Instead, it has a ribbon of cinnamon-sugar running through the center.

The recipe calls for an icing, but it's not a requirement. If you don't frost them, you can see the cinnamon-sugar layer bubble up to the surface in a few places.

I like bar cookies because they are quick to put together and throw in a pan. That's handy when you're already making two meals to take to the field for harvest.

Take this state-fair-winning 4-H recipe for a whirl in your own kitchen!

 Snickerdoodle Brownies

From Favorite 4-H Recipes: Steven County 4-H Council

Cookies:
2 1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Cinnamon Mixture:
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. cinamon
Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a larger bowl, mix together softened butter and sugars  until well blended. Add one egg at a time, blending, then add vanilla. Add the flour mixture; blend well.

Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread evenly, using an off-set spatula. Make the cinnamon mixture; sprinkle evenly on top of the batter in pan. Using the remaining batter, drop by teaspoon-size dollops over the top of the cinnamon mixture, covering all the pan, as best you can. You will be able to see some of the cinnamon mixture peaking through.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven. Don't overbake. (The original recipe called for 25 minutes, but my oven bakes hot. It only took 20 in my oven, and next time, I'll check them a couple minutes earlier than that.)

Cool completely for at least 1 hour. Combine icing ingredients and drizzle over the brownies. (I used a decorator tube on part of the bars to make them pretty for a photo, and then I just spread the glaze over the remaining bars to take to the field.)

I modified the icing recipe to include butter because it's better with butter, don't you think? If you want to use the original recipe, use 2 tablespoons of milk, rather than one tablespoon each of butter and milk.