Snickerdoodles are such a classic cookie, yet up until this point they have honestly been the bane of my existence. I can master croissants, danish, eclairs, and all sorts of complicated bread recipes, but hand me a snickerdoodle recipe and they will undoubtedly spread into a massive, flat, crunchy 14×16-inch cookie. I am not sure where the problem lies, but for some reason this one cookie has given me nothing but headaches. I’m glad that you all like them so much and that they ended up in the top 10 cookies mentioned during the cookbook giveaway, because it gave me an excuse to tackle them yet again with a new recipe. I am happy to report that I have finally experienced successful snickerdoodles! Wonderful round, soft, cinnamon-sugar goodness that taste every ounce as good as they look.
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this recipe for soft snickerdoodle cookies, but I had it saved for quite some time and was very excited to finally give it a try. The recipe received hundreds of raving reviews claiming that it was the first actual soft snickerdoodle recipe that many had ever tried. I was sold immediately given all of my problems with the spreading crunchy catastrophes. The recipe is incredibly simple and the only real difference that I could discern between this recipe and the others I have tried is that it instructs you to chill both the dough and the cookie sheets before baking. I surmise that this drastically cuts down on the spreading, and resulted in one absolutely elated Brown Eyed Baker. I’m so happy to have a great snickerdoodle recipe that I can bust out during the holidays!
After I took these out of the oven (and stole two that “broke”… “accidentally”), I Tweeted about how great the warm snickerdoodles were fresh from the oven. Elly of Elly Says Opa! replied by saying that I should make snickerdoodle ice cream sandwiches once the cookies cooled. Elly – you have won Genius of the Day award. These were absolutely, 100% incredible. If you have some vanilla ice cream stashed away in the freezer, you definitely need to throw one of these together! Go from cookie to full-fledged dessert in less than a minute.
Cookies from the Top 10 I have made:
No-Bake Cookies
Almond Macaroons with Nutella Filling
Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Chocolate Chip Cookies (Thick & Chewy)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Sugar Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Reminder: You have until Thursday evening to enter to win the Ornamentini Tea Towel from Swizzlestix!
Don’t miss a recipe! Subscribe to the Brown Eyed Baker RSS feed!
Snickerdoodles
Yield: About 4 dozen
2¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a baking mat and put in refrigerator to chill.
2. Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until the flour is blended.
5. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
6. In the meantime, mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Scoop 1-inch balls of dough and roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture to coat.
8. Place on chilled cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 minutes.
9. Chill the dough and cookie sheets between batches.
10. Let cookies set on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Store cookies in an airtight container.
(Adapated from RecipeZaar)
Tags: Cookies
Share This Post:
Ooh yum!! These look great! Glad you finally had success with them, I love snickerdoodles! How about trying the muffins adaptations from peabody’s site.. they are even better!!
Snickerdoodle ice cream sandwiches are yummy!! Have you tried snickerdoodle ice cream?
These sound like a great recipe! I don’t like crunchy Snickerdoodles either. Your pictures are beautiful!!! And Elly is a genius – snickerdoodle ice cream sandwiches sound amazing!
Thank you for posting this recipe. I have also had a horrible time with snickerdoodles and my little boy loves them and asks for them often!
Seriously making my eyeballs drool. Look at all the cinnamon!!! So good!
My absolute favorite type of cookie, and yours do look so soft and delicious! Glad you conquered this
The only thing missing from my pantry is the cream of tartar otherwise I would be all over this recipe!
I’m not a huge fan of this cookie for the exact same reasons you stated. They are always too crunchy and flat. Based on the pictures though this recipe looks like the diamond in the rough. Thanks.
They look great! Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. Glad you liked the ice cream sandwich idea – homemade cookies make the best ice cream sandwiches!
Your ice cream sammys looks soo much better than the ones I’m used to!
Snickerdoodles are one of my all-time favorite cookies, and although I have my go-to recipe every time I make them…. I think I am going to have to give this one a try! The look delicious!
Ooooh those look terrific! I don’t really have a go-to snickerdoodle recipe so I’ll definitely be giving these a shot. I hope mine look as tasty as yours!
Your snickerdoodles look perfect. That is exactly the way I wish mine would look instead of puffy. I’m going to have to try your recipe!
These look delicious! I haven’t made or eaten snickerdoodles in ages…
What would happen if I used salted butter? We are going on a trip tomorrow and I thought about making these for hubby, boys to snack on. Only have salted butter in fridge. Not a good idea? I can’t have sugar otherwise I would LOVE to try one of those sandwiches! hmmm
Hi Kim,
You can definitely use your salted butter, just omit the 1/4 teaspoon of salt that is called for in the recipe. I hope you enjoy these and have a great trip!
-Michelle
Yum, totally loving the ice cream sandwich idea. I’m definitely going to try that!
I love snickerdoodles and it’s been a long time since I last had one! Thank you for sharing this recipe! Im making this right away!
These look amazing and making them into ice cream sandwiches takes them over the top!
I have never made snickerdoodles but decided to try these tonight. They are DELICIOUS!! May be my new favorite cookie!
i love snickerdoodles!!!
YUM! I made these Friday night last minute and brought them for get-together and they were a huge hit – so tasty. Easy to eat a lot of them! I’m usually a chocolate girl but these are my new favorite go-to cookies…
These cookies look amazing! Do you think it would be ok if I made the dough and let it chill overnight before baking?
Hi Lauryn – Yes, you can definitely make the dough and it chill overnight before baking. Enjoy!
These cookies are incredible. They come out so soft, chewy, perfect. They might be my favorite cookie!
I found this recipe via google, and made them this morning and they turned out great. Thank you!
Hi Tyler – So happy to hear you enjoyed these! Thanks for coming back and sharing your results!
Thank you for passing along the snickerdoodle sandwich cookie idea! I used a pumpkin/cream cheese icing to make sandwich cookies, and it was fabulous! I also added a little cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to the cookie dough.
Hi Karissa – Oh gosh, a pumpkin/cream cream icing sounds absolutely fabulous sandwiched between these cookies!! Love that idea!!
Hi Michelle,
I love ur website. I’ve been wanting to bake these since the day i saw them here but cream of tartar is not available in the stores around here. I’m form India.
Anyway, is there any other ingredient I could substitute it with?
-Disha.
Hi Disha – If you don’t have cream of tartar, you would substitute baking powder for both the baking soda and cream of tartar.
For this recipe, use 4 teaspoons baking powder and omit BOTH the baking soda and cream of tartar.
(For future reference, the substituting formula is 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.)
Thank you so much Michelle for ur quick response! Wll let u know how they turn out!
I’m a little late to the party here, but thought I’d toss my two cents in…
I noticed another Kim mentioned not being able to have sugar. Thought I’d let you all know that I make my snickerdoodles with Splenda instead of Sugar and they’re still very yummy!! They don’t look the same. For some reason they come out shaped like little bon-bons, but they taste great!!
How funny, the snickerdoodles that I bake always come out way too puffy! They don’t spread at all, so I spread them myself a little bit before baking them. I do use half butter and half shortening though. But this ones do look really good
! I may try them in the future.
Michelle, thanks for the substitution info — I’m in eastern Europe and can’t get cream of tartar. I used baking powder and the results were great!
Thanks!
i love this it is yummy and deliocous
The dough is chilling right now.
I can’t wait to see and try the snickerdoodles fresh from the oven!
Kisses from Brazil
I had to let them about 30 minutes in the oven.
But they got great!
These came out excellent.
Thank you for the recipe, as well as the tip about baking powder. I don’t have cream of tartar, so substituted the baking powder for the baking soda and cream of tartar. Came out wonderful!
I’m an Australian, where Snickerdoodles are virtually unknown. In fact, before I became something of an avid baker myself, I, nor anyone I knew, had ever heard of them. All I’ve ever really known is that they’re dipped in cinnamon sugar, which always had me intrigued, as I love anything with cinnamon sugar.
Anyway, I decided to make some today, after a small batch of Ginger nuts got me in the mood. I used this recipe, and good god was I delighted. This recipe results in pure happiness, concentrated into a cookie. Thank you very much for the recipe, and if anyone’s on the fence about making them; do it! There’s no possible room for disappointment.
Hi Michelle,
I REALLY want to try baking this but I just realized that i have no parchment paper or a baking mat or what-so-ever. So I was wondering if maybe I could just grease the baking tray and omit the parchment paper? Will the cookies stick?
THANKS.
-Angela
Angela, I usually place some aluminum foil on the tray and I have no problems.
I always made a tone of these during the holidays they are addictive. Their also pretty flexible working with cream icings as sandwich cookies & substituting flavors with different extracts (minus cinnamon) but I was kinda curious how these cookies ever got their name of snickerdoodles if there was not one snickers in it? lol
)
Hey I tried these cookies for a party the other day and they were a hit! Definitely a keeper! Love the photos as well!
Made these today on a whim. I cheated and didn’t chill the dough or the cookie sheet. They were absolutely delicious and chewy and perfect. Yum.
These look perfect! I’m going to give these a try. Any idea how many days they will keep?
Hi Tina, If you keep them sealed up in an airtight container they should stay good for up to about 5 days I would guess. Cookies never last very long around these parts, so I’m giving you my best educated answer
LOVE your photography. Can’t wait to try out this recipe for Labor Day weekend
Would anyone had the recipe for these cookies, but using Splenda instead of sugar? This is one of our family favorites, but my husband is now diabetic.
Hi Joan,
I’ve never used Splenda in these (or other baked goods) but my understanding is that it can substituted on a 1:1 basis for regular sugar. I say give it a shot, and then report back and let us know how they turned out!
What do you think the cream of tartar does for the snickerdoodles? I recently made them sans the tartar, and I thought they were tasty. I’ve seen some recipes with and some without. Any ideas?
Baking powder is approximately 2/3 baking soda and 1/3 cream of tar tar along with other little bits in it that make it baking powder. So, replacing the cream of tartar and baking soda with baking powder should work just fine
The first time I made these, I accidentally used baking powder instead of baking soda. I was making 4 different kinds of cookies for a holiday bake off thing at work and got confused.
The cookies turned out amazing, however they didn’t flatten; they kind of poofed. So they were like mini snickerdoodles, but I found that the smaller size increased the vanilla and butter flavor so each cookie was an intense snickerdoodle experience.
Since then, I’ve tried it with the original baking soda, and haven’t liked them as much, so now I use whole wheat flower and baking powder and they’re awesome.
Thanks for the best snickerdoodle recipe ever!
You are welcome, I’m glad that a snafu helped you find a recipe that you love!
Would love to pack frozen cookie dough in care-pkg for my daughter w/ this recipe for Snickerdoodles. However, not sure if I am able to roll final batter in cinnamon and sugar so that all she’ll have to do is scoop and bake. ????????
Hi Valerie, How nice of you!! I probably would not. I would probably send her instructions to combine the sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl and then scoop and roll the cookies in the mixture.
these were the best snickerdoodles I have ever had. I love how soft they were. thanks for the recipe!
Yay! You’re welcome!
Not gonna lie, I found your blog when I was looking up pictures of what snickerdoodles are supposed to look like for my roommate. I made snickerdoodles tonight and I had THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM. It turned into a huge, snickerdoodle pie! My roommates were elated, of course, because it still tasted like a snickerdoodle, but it just wasn’t the same for the little perfectionist baker inside.
Next time, I’m going to try your recipe!
This is the BEST recipe for snickerdoodles. My husband told me to throw out any other recipes I have, “this is the one” (when he says quit trying to find something better and get rid of any other recipes, that is a high compliment:). I’ve taken them to multiple gatherings and every time someone asks for the recipe. I follow the recipe step by step, including chilling the dough and pans between batches. These cookies turn out just like the pics show, and taste delicous, they are soft too! Thanks for posting! Getting ready to whip up a batch for a dinner party tomorrow, I’m in charge of dessert:)
I tried your recipe and still had the same flat, crunchy snickerdoodles. =( WHY DO THESE THINGS EVADE ME SO? The only time they came out right was when I first made them 3 years ago, since then, nothing but trouble.
Just made these cookies, and for me, 10 minutes was not long enough. I tried another batch at 11, and it was still a little underbaked on top. I thought snickerdoodles could make it into my top 10 cookies list, but I think not. The recipe was great. Snickerdoodles just aren’t my kind of cookie, even though I loooove cinnamon.
Well, I just made snickerdoodles with another recipe from a trusted cookbook, but my cookies came out dome shaped. I suppose this is not bad, but I prefer them to be flat like yours — I have your original problem in reverse. I noticed the only difference between the recipe I used and this one is more flour and the addition of salt. I thought I’d ask a more experience baker, do you think perhaps that’s what did it?
It’s possible, but it could also be a temperature difference in your oven. Without actually testing the recipe, it would be hard to say exactly, but those are likely.
I stumbled across this website because I wanted to make Halloween treat bags for my students. They weren’t as flat as your picture, but they were absolutely wonderful! Let’s just hope the kids love them on Monday…if they make it that far, lol.
My coworker’s birthday was yesterday and she asked for Snickerdoodles so of course I obliged with this recipe. So amazing! They were picture perfect and I had to get them out of my house so into care packages they go!! Thanks BEB!
These are delicious! I am in the midst of making these, and I am enjoying much!
I just made these this weekend. Mine did not lay as flat, but they are soft, chewy, and just all around good! Thanks!
I’ve tried making these twice now and both times I have had to throw out all the dough! The dough itself tastes great, but something is off with the texture. They stayed flat, but completely crumbled apart when I tried to scoop them off the pan. Does anyone know what I could be doing wrong?
Hi Jenn, Did you make any alterations at all to the ingredients or technique? The other problem might be oven temperature – do you use an oven thermometer to ensure an accurate temperature?
I’m about to make these tomorrow!
Any calculations on approx. how many this recipe makes?
Thanks!
~Wendy
heh. Sorry…! I just saw it yields 4 dozen! I read too fast sometimes!
I made these the other day and they turned out amazing! The texture was perfect, crisp on the outside with a soft and chewy interior and the flavor had a hint of tang to it from the cream of tartar, which complemented the sweetness and cinnamon flavor perfectly! Thanks so much! This will definitely be my new go-to snickerdoodle recipe!
what is that brown stuff?? sugar and cinnamon??
oooh…it was sugar and cinnamon hahaha sorry :/
I tried looking through the comments but didn’t see it, maybe I missed it, but the recipe says 1-1/2 cups sugar. Then step 3 says cream butter and sugar, and step 6 says combine cinnamon and sugar. Guess I’m just wondering how much to use for the dough itself, and how much to use to coat the dough?
Ignore me! It’s been a long week. I found the 3 tbsp sugar at the bottom of the recipe. Going to try making these tonight for my dad, an avid snickerdoodle lover always looking for the perfect snickerdoodle but never finding it, lol. I’m hoping this is the one that does it for him!