Some days are just a little off.  You know those days, when you should be in the Holiday spirit, but it just isn’t working for you?  Where things at work that should run smoothly just get all messed up?  Where a little black cloud not only follows you around, but also sometimes strikes you with little bolts of lightning just for fun?  It was one of those days.

Case in point.  I was trying to put sheets on the top bunk of Sam and Ben’s bunk bed.  While performing nearly acrobatic moves to get the sheets on and not have my big frame crash through the top bunk, I apparently knocked their cardboard Titanic model off their dresser.  As I continued trying to secure the sheets, Kirby the Beagle thought it would make sense to rip their cardboard Titanic model to shreds.  Strangely, the Titanic just seems to have transformed from the above water model to the sunken variety.  The day was just a little off like that.

I should have known that the Titanic model was doomed.

Case in point, number two.  Our Kindergartener Ben had his class Christmas party.  As a craft, they assembled bags of reindeer food.  Sitting at the dining room table, he gleefully informed me that it is all food that people can eat, other than the corn.  Then he proceeded to snack on the reindeer food, while setting aside corn pieces.  Okay, maybe your teacher meant to say that it is edible in the same way as dog food.  If you have nothing else to eat and you are starving to death, go ahead and eat it.  Yep, the day was just a little off like that (on the bright side, Ben can now fly and help pull Santa’s sleigh).

See, it clearly states, “Reindeer Food,” not “Kid Food.”

Trying to bring the day back into balance, I figured I would go to one of my old standbys, Snickerdoodles.  All was going well, until I discovered that I only had half of the Cream of Tartar called for in the recipe.  Not to be stopped, I assembled everything else and went to find the right substitute.  Unfortunately, the substitute should have been administered before I put everything else in the mixer.  Once again a little off, therefore I threw caution to the cookie baking wind and just substituted a teaspoon of baking powder for the teaspoon of missing Cream of Tartar (the recipe below includes the revision).  I know, I know, “Dave, you are a crazy man!”  Then I discovered I was short on cinnamon (the recipe below includes this revision, too), hence the birth of “A Little Off Snickerdoodles.”  The good news, they turned out just fine.  No need to worry, even with the world a little off, things turned out just fine.

“A Little Off Snickerdoodles,” but they look and taste just fine.

A LITTLE OFF SNICKERDOODLES

1 cup Butter

1½ cups Sugar

2 Eggs

2¾ cups Flour

1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

¼ teaspoon Salt

 

Coating…

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar.

Mix in the eggs.

Mix in the flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Roll tablespoon sized balls of dough in sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned.

 

Makes about 42 cookies.

Source:  page 18 of my cookie cookbook, “Today is a Great Day for a Cookie,” which is available for free download at www.CookiesbyDave.com.