It sounds crazy, right? No one actually sits down and thinks of ways to fail. Do they?
Have you ever considered that each time you excuse your way out of success--it's too hard, you're not good enough, that's not realistic, you don't have any resources--you're convincing yourself that failure is your only option.
What's that about? Not cool. Even if all of your friends are doing it. Even if your parents and teachers are doing it. [Reference point: In fifth grade my teacher asked us what we wanted to "be" when we grow up. Like we knew how loaded of a question that was. I said that I wanted to be an actress. "The world has enough of them," Teacher said. "It's not realistic. We need good teachers and doctors."]
Riggght. Not even a little cool. Shame on you, teach. And shame on us for not recognizing and embracing all that makes us us. Successful, powerful, capable, generous us.
What does this have to do with cooking? Absolutely nothing. But sometimes we (and by we I mean I) need a little pep talk. And if pep talks don't work, cookies certainly will.
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
2) In a large bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter and granulated sugar until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in vanilla and egg. At low speed, gradually add flour mixture and beat just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.
3) Working in batches, use the palms of your hands to shape rounded tablespoons of dough into 11/2-inch balls. Roll balls in coarse sugar to coat and place on a large ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
4) Bake until lightly golden and crinkly on top, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet on wire rack 1 minute, then transfer cookies to rack to cool completely.
