"Damsel in dis Dress" > wrote in message
...
> Here are some Snickerdoodles recipes. I'm not sure exactly what it
> does, but cream of tartar is involved in all snickerdoodles. They
> just aren't SDs without it.


<Great Recipes snipped>

The cream of tartar reacts with the baking soda to give the cookies the
right amount of "lift"

You'll notice in all the recipes the ratio of 2 parts cream of tartar to 1
part baking soda.

This of course causes a gas to form and give a certain amount of "rise" to
the snicker doodles.

Usually (not always) the denser the mixture the more you need baking soda as
opposed to baking powder although quite often both are used together.

Dimitri