December. Houston's version of winter, which means sixty-five degrees and everyone breaking out the North Face jackets they bought for that one ski trip they took in 2012. I love this city's relationship with cold weather. Sixty degrees and people act like the ice age has returned.
But sixty degrees is smoker weather. This is when the offset runs best — cool air, steady temp, no fighting with the heat. I smoked two racks of spare ribs this weekend using a technique I've been perfecting: three-two-one. Three hours on the smoker unwrapped, two hours wrapped in butcher paper with a splash of apple cider vinegar and fish sauce, one hour unwrapped with a glaze. My glaze is not standard BBQ sauce — it's a reduction of tamarind paste, brown sugar, fish sauce, and sambal oelek. Sweet, sour, salty, spicy. It caramelizes on the ribs and creates a bark that's sticky and complex.
Ray from across the street smelled the smoke and came over with his wife Maria and their grandkid. I fed them. This is the rule at my house: if you smell the smoke and follow it, you eat. No invitation necessary. Bobby Tran's backyard operates on an open-door policy.
Emma asked me to teach her how to bake this week. Not cook — bake. She wants to make Christmas cookies. I said, "I don't bake." She said, "Then learn with me." So we stood in the kitchen on Wednesday night with a recipe for sugar cookies that Emma found on her phone and we measured and mixed and rolled and cut out shapes and I was completely out of my element and she was laughing at me and it was the best hour of my week.
The cookies were fine. Not great. The shapes were lumpy and the icing was too thin. But we made them together and she was smiling the whole time and I learned something: I don't have to be good at everything to be a good dad. Sometimes being bad at something alongside your kid is better than being the expert.
Lily made a Christmas wish list that is three pages long and includes a pony. I told her we don't have room for a pony. She said, "We have the backyard." I said, "The backyard has a smoker." She said, "The pony can live next to the smoker." I admire her negotiation skills even as I deny her requests.
Christmas is coming. The kids are excited. I'm excited. Forty-two years old and Christmas still makes me feel like something good is about to happen.
Look, the ribs were the move this weekend — I stand by them completely — but I’d be lying if I said the moment I keep replaying isn’t the one in the kitchen with Emma, flour on the counter and shapes that were more “abstract art” than “Christmas tree.” So here’s what I’m sharing this week: not the ribs, but the cookies — or at least a version worth making again with someone you love. These Soft and Chewy Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies are forgiving enough for a first-timer and good enough that nobody cares if the stars come out looking like amoebas.
Soft and Chewy Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (for rolling)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (for rolling)
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes until pale, light, and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour in the vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated.
- Combine wet and dry. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until the dough just comes together. Do not overmix — stop as soon as no dry streaks remain.
- Make the rolling sugar. In a small shallow bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the cinnamon.
- Roll and coat. Scoop the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (about 1 heaping tablespoon each). Roll each ball between your palms until smooth, then roll generously in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat all sides.
- Bake. Arrange the coated dough balls on the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly underdone and puffy. They will firm up as they cool — do not overbake.
- Cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They’ll settle into soft, chewy, crinkled perfection.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 162 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 82mg
About the cook who shared this
Bobby Tran
Week 37 of Bobby’s 30-year story
· Houston, Texas
Bobby Tran was born in a refugee camp in Arkansas to parents who fled Saigon with nothing. He grew up in Houston straddling two worlds — Vietnamese at home, Texan everywhere else — and learned to cook from his mother's pho and a neighbor's BBQ smoker. He's a former shrimper, a recovering alcoholic, a divorced dad of three, and the guy who marinates brisket in fish sauce and lemongrass because he doesn't believe in borders, especially when it comes to flavor.
