Snickerdoodles
140 comments » 
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
Snickerdoodles
Yield: About 4 dozen
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients:
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 cinnamonDirections:
1. 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)
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This is the best “sugar cookie dough”-based recipe I’ve tried. I’m so glad a co-worked turned me onto your site. She told me that anything I chose would be a hit. She was right. I’ve now made these cookies a few times, and I cannot emphasize the difference chilling the baking sheets make. I learned the hard way :-/ Thanks for recipe and keep them coming
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The Kook @ The Kitchen Kook on January 29th, 2013 at 6:46 pm
I know! I love Brown Eyed Baker. Whenever I’m looking for a recipe, I hit this website first! Michelle hasn’t failed me yet
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Oh oh ohhhhhhh my goooeness! These cookies were perfect. Addictive. I ate the whole first round by myself except for 1 and a half. My hubby who is not a cookie lover said these taste better than the ones I get from the store and had a good taste to them (just the right amount of crunch and chewy gooeyness (I made up a word for this cookie). I have been looking for years for a recipe to mimic my favorite snicker doodle cookie that I get from the ” great American cookie” and this is it. Those other recipes that say they are copy cat ( fall short). This is it. I was excited that any time I had a craving for my favorite cookie I could just bake it ( I moved states and only get this cookie when I go back and visit my hometown). But now thanks to this recipe I can have them any time I want. The only down side is that having this recipe is dangerous for me, because I will bake them and keep.going back for more and eat them all which can’t be good. I added cinnamon to the dough. I recommend a tsp or two depending on how.much you like the cin flavor. Thanks bunches for the awesome recipe.
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Happy Tasty Tuesday! We love this snickerdoodle recipe and it is featured on our Christmas Cookie recipe round-up this week! Thanks!
http://4virtu.com/2012/12/tasty-tuesday-christmas-cookie-recipes/
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Best cookies EVER! Everyone loves it when I make these cookies!! Yes it takes longer to make BUT we’ll worth it:)
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Love these snickerdoodles!!! I make them for my husbands work and they are always asking for more! Thanks for the awesome recipe
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argh i just made snickerdoodles using the betty crocker recipe (exact same ingredients above, but no chlling) which is the recipe my mom uses and her cookies always come out perfect. BUT…mine came out super flat and crunchy. Sigh. But the flavor is great.
The thing is that I live at over 9,000 feet in altitude, and I didn’t adjust for it in the recipe, I was hoping it would turn out alright. Do you think if I added less baking soda next time they would be puffier?
Christine
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Michelle on December 15th, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Hi Christine, Unfortunately I wouldn’t have a clue as to how to alter the Betty Crocker recipe, as I’ve never used it. For high altitude baking, I’d follow whatever adjustments you typically make for other recipes.
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I just made a double recipe of these today. They are THE BEST snickerdoodle cookies I have ever tasted!!! Thank you so much for your awesome recipes!! I can’t wait to make a few of the other cookie recipes later this week!
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Seems to be a great recipe, but my cookies did not flatten out nearly as much as the ones shown in the picture.
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Michelle, another difference I noticed is that snickerdoodles are usually baked at 400F so your recipe uses a relatively lower temperature. Hmm. I wonder if that’s the difference. I’ll have to try both temperatures and report back!
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The Kook @ The Kitchen Kook on January 29th, 2013 at 6:48 pm
I’ve updated below!
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Mmm. I love soft snickerdoodles! I used this recipe to make mine, and they were so good! I also tried baking the same recipe at 400F to see the difference, and I found that the higher temperature actually gave soft AND chewy cookies. Both are delicious, but I hope you try it this way next time!
Here are some pictures to show the difference in the textures!
http://thekitchenkook.blogspot.com/2013/01/classic-snickerdoodle-cookies.html
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I just made these and they are so awesome…I did make a couple of alterations…I added about two tablespoons of cinnamon to the dry ingredients and 1/8 tsp. almond extracts to the butter/sugar mixture. And since I am a soft cookie person and like larger cookies, I made the balls about 2-2 1/2 inches and cooked for 10 minutes…they made bigger, softer cookies. They are so good, my son ate 9 of the 1 inch cookies and my mother-in-law, who was here visiting, stole a dozen of the cookies to take home. Great recipe. Thank you!!!!
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This is the old Betty Crocker recipe! (with the 1 difference being that her’s calls for salted butter). Been baking these since I was about 5 years old. Only you’ve beenb aking them at 350 when the original calls for 400 for 8-10 minutes. Why wait until Christmas? These are a “daily” cookie at our house. And it’s the first recipe I teach any kid that wants to learn (because the dough can be successfully refrigerated forup to 3 weeks). Congratulations on finding a Snickerdoodle recipe that works well! Best with Constant Comment tea or works great as a sandwich cookie using buttercream frosting.
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I just made these — my first attempt at Snickerdoodles! — and they came out great. I have made several recipes from your blog now, and each one has been a success. Thank you for posting things that are consistently delicious! It’s great to have such a reliable blog to go to for the recipes I want.
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These are excellent! I have tried many other snickerdoodles that say they are soft on the inside & crispy on the outside, but they didn’t turn out well. I love that these stay puffy and soft. This is a keeper!
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This is for the lady who wondered what was her problem in making snickerdoodles.
Reading the various recipes online, I believe the difference between them is the oil. 1 cup butter in one recipe, and 1/2 cup butter plus 1/2 cup shortening in the other.
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