Saffron Vanilla Snickerdoodles: Delicious?

Since I was young, a hobby of mine has been baking; from your average chocolate cupcake to the more exotic flavors. Take, for instance, saffron vanilla cookies. While uncommon and somewhat far from the usual ingredients desserts are made from, I decided to follow the advice of a blogger and attempt to make this unique treat.
The steps to making saffron vanilla snickerdoodles are really quite simple, and most of the ingredients were stocked in my pantry. Luckily for me, my dad has a stash of saffron that he uses to make rice, but for most people who don’t have saffron, you can find it in just about any grocery store.
When I began, the recipe called for the saffron to be soaked in milk for several hours, and so I did so in a small glass. After three hours or so the milk began to turn a pastel-like yellow, and if you let it sit for another hour the color turns into a more solid sunshine yellow. But be careful when handling the saffron; When I opened the container, I didn’t know how strong the saffron smell was, and let me tell you, it hits you right away. Even though it’s not a horrible aroma, I probably will be keeping the jar away from my face the next time I make these snickerdoodles.
After all my ingredients were mixed and the batter was made, the option of putting white chocolate in the cookies made my mouth water, but sadly I forgot to buy a pack. If anyone is planning to make these cookies, make sure you buy some! I definitely will not forget next time. Nuts were also an option, but I opted out because I was too lazy to chop up my cashews.
When it was time to put in the cookie dough, which now looked like yellow mounds of clumped together sand because of all the cinnamon sugar covering, I was really worried. From past experience, I usually either burned my cookies or would somehow ruin them and not know why; so you could only imagine how cautious I was as I put the tray of dough into the oven, set the timer on my phone, and crossed my fingers together for some luck. When my alarm rang after 7 minutes or so, I opened up the oven door to see my cookies were still nice yellow colors with a golden brown creeping along the rim of the snickerdoodles. Remembering how the tray bakes the cookies after you take them out because of the heat, I decided to pull them out of the oven and set them out to cook.
Though most of the time a person should wait at least two minutes or so before trying cookies right out of the oven, the sweet vanilla and cinnamon smell called to me. So, after taking in a deep breath, I popped a piece of the snickerdoodle in my mouth and it was… A SUCCESS!
So to all those whose mouths watered when they read this, here’s the recipe I used, and modified. I hope you like them, because I certainly did. Enjoy!

My Saffron Vanilla Snickerdoodles (adapted from www.yummly.com)
2 tbsp    milk (slightly warmed)
¼ tsp      saffron (pinch, strand slightly crushed)
2 cup     all-purpose flour
1 tsp       baking soda
½ tsp      salt
½ cup    butter (softened 1 stick)
1 cup     granulated sugar
¼ cup    brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp       vanilla extract
1              egg (slightly beaten)
1 cup     white chocolate chips (optional or slivered almond optional or chopped cashews optional)
1 cup     sugar/ ½ tsp cinnamon mixture

Directions:
1. In a little bowl warm the milk and add the saffron strands, slightly crushing them. Set aside and let steep, the longer the better. This can be done several hours before-hand. The saffron will turn the milk a lovely sunny yellow.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Sift or whisk flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.
4. Beat butter until softened. Slowly add sugars and beat well until mixture slightly increases in volume.
5. In a small bowl mix together saffron mixture, egg and vanilla. Add egg mixture to butter mixture and beat, scraping down bowl as needed.
6. Add flour mixture to butter mixture gradually, stirring until flour is incorporated. Stir in optional mix-ins if using.
7. Chill until firm (30-45 minute or up to overnight) or be lazy and stick in the freezer for 15 minute like me.
8. Roll mounded tablespoonfuls of dough into the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
9. Put the cinnamon covered dough onto baking sheet and bake 8 minutes. Let rest on baking sheet for a couple of minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool.