Easy Snickerdoodle Recipe
Published 12/4/2021 • Updated 4/25/2024
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This easy snickerdoodle recipe comes out so soft and delicious. It’s made with simple ingredients and a holiday cookie favorite.
Looking for more cookies to add to your holiday cookie tin? Make these delicious maple sugar cookies or these fun ginger whoopie pies.
The Best Chewy Snickerdoodle (+Most Delicious!)
If you grew up eating snickerdoodle cookies, you know that snickerdoodle cookies are a well known and nostalgic cookie recipe for a lot of people. They are made with cinnamon and sugar and have delicious tartness to them.
important things to remember
Measure out ingredients before hand. Be sure to measure out all of your ingredients before you start. You don’t want to find out you’re missing something mid-recipe.
Let your butter and sugar cream until fluffy. It is important to cream your butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. You want the sugar to become smooth rather than granulated. You also want to add air to your cookie dough.
Don’t skip refrigerating the dough. Refrigerating the cookie dough is important because it firms up the dough so when you roll the cookies they will take longer to flatten. It leaves you with a chewy and cake-like cookie rather than a flat cookie.
Stand Mixer: we’ve tested these cookies with both a stand mixer and hand mixer and let me tell you, a stand mixer is SO MUCH EASIER! If you do end up using a hand mixer, your shoulder might get a little sore creaming the butter 😀
What does a snickerdoodle taste like?
A snickerdoodle tastes mostly like cinnamon and sugar in a cake-like cookie. There is a little bit of tartness from most snickerdoodles that comes from the cream of tarter. They are so chewy and delicious.
Ingredients You Need
Most of the ingredients for this cookies are classic cookie ingredients.
- All-purpose flour: we decided to use only all purpose flour rather than a blend of flours to keep these snickerdoodle cookies light, fluffy, and chewy.
- Cream of tartar: the cream of tarter adds tartness and acts as a leavener for these snickerdoodle cookies.
- Baking soda: another ingredient that aids in leavening these cookies.
- Salt: a pinch of salt brings out
- Unsalted butter: use room temperature unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt you put into your cookies.
- Light brown sugar: we wanted a lighter color to these cookies so we used light brown sugar. The brown sugar also adds a bit of chewiness to the snickerdoodle cookies.
- Granulated sugar: we added a bit more sweetness to these cookies with white sugar.
- Vanilla extract: vanilla extract adds richness to the snickerdoodles.
- Large eggs: don’t skip the large eggs for flax eggs, you need the real deal.
- Ground cinnamon: one of the main ingredients of the snickerdoodle is ground cinnamon.
What does cream of tarter do in snickerdoodles?
You can find cream of tarter in the spice section of most grocery stores. Did you know that cream of tarter is a product of turning grapes into wine? Us either.
Cream of tarter is a white powder with a tart flavor that acts as a leavener. You don’t need cream of tarter to make these cookies, but the cookies will lack that delicious tartness.
How to Make Snickerdoodles
- Measure out ingredients. Before you do anything, measure out your ingredients into small bowls. There is nothing worse than finding out halfway through a recipe that you’re missing something. We also highly suggest using a kitchen scale for the most accurate measurements.
- Cream the butter and sugar. Place the butter and sugar into a standing mixture bowl and cream them until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine again.
- Combine all ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to a separate bowl and whisk them together to be sure the ingredients are well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Refrigerate the dough. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight to firm up the cookie dough. This both hydrates your flour and firms up the dough to prevent the cookies from flattening.
- Roll cookies + Dip. Remove the cookies from the bowl with a tablespoons cookie scoop and roll the dough in between your hands. Roll them in a cinnamon sugar mixture until the cookie dough ball is coated. Place the ball on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies begin to crack the top of the cookies.
- Let them rest. Remove the cookies from the oven and let the rest for 2 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
How do I get my snickerdoodles extra sugary?
If you would like your snickerdoodles extra sugary (and cinnamon-y) you can roll the cookie balls twice in cinnamon sugar.
Another option is to bake the snickerdoodles and when the cookies have sat for a few minutes, lift the cookies up and set the baked cookie in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Flip the cookie to cover both the top and bottom of the cookie.
Why are my snickerdoodle cookies flat?
Your snicker doodles could be flat for a few reasons. See some of the options below.
Refrigerate longer. It is tempting to cut the refrigeration time in half. Don’t do it! The cookies may flatten faster in the oven if the cookie dough is not firm enough.
Old flour. Sometimes old flour can cause the cookie so flatten or taste off.
Old baking soda or cream of tartar. Old leavening agents could attribute to flat cookies. Be sure they are fresh.
Can I add ingredients to my snickerdoodles?
Feel free to add mix-ins to your snickerdoodles. Below are some of our favorite additions.
- cinnamon chips
- chocolate chips
- rasins
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Storage
Let the snickerdoodles cool completely before placing them in an airtight container before placing them in the refrigerator for up to 7-10 days.
Freezing Instructions
You can either freeze the snickerdoodle cookies themselves or the cookie dough before baking.
Cookies: to freeze the cookies, let the cookies cool completely before placing them in a freezer bag. Place them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Cookie Dough: to freeze the cookie dough for later, form the snickerdoodle dough into a log and roll that log into plastic wrap. Place the log in the freezer and freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
Easy Snickerdoodle Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour, 280g
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed, 75g
- ½ cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons for later, 100g
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Start with the dry ingredients. Add the all purpose flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt to a bowl. Whisk all of the ingredients together until they are well combined. Set aside.
- Add the butter, brown sugar, and ½ cup granulated sugar to a standing mixer. Beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until the mixture turns light in color and is creamed and fluffy. Be sure to scrape the sides throughout the beat time.
- Meanwhile, add the eggs and vanilla to a separate bowl and gently whisk the eggs together so the egg yolk, egg white, and vanilla are combined.
- Slowly add the egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar and beat until the egg combines with the sugar and butter and becomes light and fluffy.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Be sure there are no flour clumps at the bottom of the mixing bowl.
- Transfer the cookie dough to an airtight container and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight for best results.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- While the dough is sitting, add the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar to a bowl and mix.
- Use a tablespoon scoop to scoop a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough into your hands and roll the dough into a ball.
- Roll the dough into the cinnamon and sugar until the ball is completely covered. Place the dough on the lined baking sheet and repeat until all the dough has been rolled in cinnamon sugar.
- Be sure to space the cookie dough balls far enough apart, these cookies do spread a little bit.
- Bake at 350ºF for 10-12 minutes. The snickerdoodles should begin to crack on the tops when they are almost done.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack.
Tips & Notes
- Be sure to measure out all of your ingredients before you start. You don’t want to find out you’re missing something mid-recipe.
- We both measured with a cup by scooping the flour into the measuring cup with a spoon AND weighed the flour. You can use a cup or weigh your flour.
- When you are creaming the butter and sugars, be sure to beat them long enough that the color lightens.
- Do not skip refrigerating the cookie dough. We refrigerate the dough to both let the dough harden so that they spread less in the oven and to hydrate the flour in the cookie dough to produce moist cookies.
- If you are in a pinch, you can place the cookie dough in the freezer for 30 minutes but we highly recommend letting the cookie dough sit in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.
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Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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