Snickerdoodles
Snickerdoodle Cookies are soft, chewy cinnamon sugar cookies with slightly crisp edges and a tender inside. Cream of tartar gives them their signature tangy flavor and pillowy texture, and a cinnamon sugar coating adds sweetness and a little crackle. They come together in one bowl with pantry staples and no chilling required, which makes them easy for cookie trays and holiday baking. Ready in under 20 minutes and makes 24 cookies.
I have to hide these. Not from the kids. From my husband, who will polish off an entire batch in one sitting if I turn my back long enough.
That’s the thing about snickerdoodles. They taste like buttery shortbread got rolled in cinnamon sugar and decided to become the best version of itself. Soft middle, crisp edge, and that little tang from the cream of tartar that a plain sugar cookie just doesn’t have.
They’re also stupid easy. One bowl, pantry staples, no dough chilling, done in under 20 minutes. Exactly what you want when you’re staring down a holiday cookie tray, a cookie swap, or a batch of homemade gifts for the people who expect them from you now.
Roll, bake, hide from your husband.
More Easy Drop Cookies
- Whipped Shortbread Cookies – melt in your mouth buttery shortbread
- Toffee Cookies – buttery cookies loaded with crunchy toffee bits
- Kitchen Sink Cookies – loaded with everything but the kitchen sink
- Butter Pecan Cookies – buttery cookies with toasted pecan crunch
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See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and their quantities.
Ingredient Notes
Unsalted butter: Room temperature, and unsalted for a reason. The recipe adds its own salt, so salted butter tips makes it too much. If you only have salted, skip the additional salt.
Cream of tartar: This is what makes a snickerdoodle a snickerdoodle. It brings the tangy flavor and that soft, pillowy texture, so don’t skip it. If you’re out, lemon juice, baking powder, or distilled vinegar can stand in. They’re not identical, but close.
Cinnamon: I only use Saigon cinnamon. It’s intense, a little sweet, and not the least bit bitter. Worth the upgrade in a cookie that’s basically wearing cinnamon as a coat.
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How To Make Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Heat the oven to 350F and line your baking sheets with parchment, a silicone mat, or a coat of nonstick spray. Cream the butter in a stand mixer until smooth.
- Add both sugars and beat with the paddle until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Mix in the vanilla and egg until fully combined.
- Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in batches. Mix until just combined and stop there. Over-mixing makes tough cookies.
- Stir together the cinnamon sugar coating in a small bowl.
- Scoop out a tablespoon of dough, roll it into a ball, then roll it through the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on the sheet about an inch apart.
- Bake 12 minutes, until the bottoms are just starting to brown. Cool on the baking sheet, then move to a rack. Try to make it that far.
For the full recipe and detailed instructions, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Storage & Freezing
Room temp: Airtight container, up to a week. If they last that long.
Freeze the dough: Freeze the rolled dough balls up to 3 months. Freeze them plain, not coated. When you’re ready, pull them out, let them sit 30 minutes, heat the oven, then roll the thawed balls in cinnamon sugar and bake.
Freeze them baked: Store baked cookies in a freezer safe container up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Make ahead: Chill the dough up to 3 days. Let it come back to room temperature before rolling and baking.
Why Do I Use Cream of Tartar?
Cream of tartar is doing two jobs in a snickerdoodle.
First, the flavor. It’s a mild acid, and that’s where the signature tangy flavor comes from. It’s the thing that makes a snickerdoodle taste like a snickerdoodle and not just a cinnamon sugar cookie.
Second, the texture. It reacts with the baking soda to puff up the cookies and keeps the sugar from crystallizing as they bake, which is how you get that soft, pillowy, slightly chewy middle instead of a flat, crisp cookie.
Skip it and you’ve basically made a sugar cookie in a cinnamon costume.
More Easy Christmas Cookies
- Stained Glass Cookies – colorful sugar cookies with candy centers
- Sweet and Spicy Rugelach – flaky pastry rolled with pepper jelly filling
- Pecan Snowball Cookies – buttery melt in your mouth pecan balls
- Biscoff Butter Cookies – crispy spiced Biscoff spread cookies
Frequently Asked Questions
Cream of tartar, mostly. Sugar cookies lean on sugar, flour, butter, egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Snickerdoodles add cream of tartar and a cinnamon sugar coating, which is what gives them that tang and the crackly cinnamon outside. Same cookie family, different personality.
The going theory is it comes from the German schneckennudeln, a crunchy cookie sprinkled with cinnamon. Nobody’s totally sure, and honestly the name is half the fun.
You can, but you’ll lose some of that signature tangy flavor. In a pinch, lemon juice, baking powder, or distilled vinegar can stand in. Not the same, but it’ll get you close.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Don’t overbake. You want soft and chewy, so pull them when the bottoms are lightly browned. If the tops look a touch underdone, good. They keep cooking on the hot pan.
- Measure your flour with the spoon and level method. Pack the cup and you’ll end up with dry, crumbly cookies.
- Roll in the cinnamon sugar right after forming the balls. The warmth from your hands helps the sugar stick. Wait too long and it slides right off.
- Use a scoop so every ball is the same size and they bake evenly.
- Room temperature butter AND egg before you start.
- Cold ingredients don’t cream right.
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Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line the baking sheet with a silicone sheet, parchment paper, or coat with baking spray.
- Using a mixer and a large bowl, blend butter until creamy.
- Add the white and brown sugar to your bowl and mix well.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and egg until well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar to your bowl. Mix thoroughly and set aside.
- In a small bowl, prepare the cinnamon mixture that you will use to coat your cookie dough by combining the 1⁄4 c sugar with 2 tsp of cinnamon and mix well.
- Next, using a tablespoon, scoop the cookie dough and form a ball using your hands.
- Roll the ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place onto your baking sheet. Repeat to desired amount.
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Don’t overbake. You want soft and chewy, so pull them when the bottoms are lightly browned. If the tops look a touch underdone, good. They keep cooking on the hot pan.
- Measure your flour with the spoon and level method. Pack the cup and you’ll end up with dry, crumbly cookies.
- Roll in the cinnamon sugar right after forming the balls. The warmth from your hands helps the sugar stick. Wait too long and it slides right off.
- Use a scoop so every ball is the same size and they bake evenly.
- Room temperature butter AND egg before you start.
- Cold ingredients don’t cream right.
Nutrition
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