The Best Snickerdoodle Recipe

This is the Best Snickerdoodle Recipe! They are soft and chewy with that characteristic tangy flavor. These easy cookies come together in under 30 minutes and don’t need to be chilled before baking! The cinnamon sugar is just a touch crunchy and adds a little extra sweetness.

My original snickerdoodle recipe was delightful and was based on a vintage cookbook recipe but they weren’t thick or chewy enough by my standards. In my professional pastry chef life I test and tweak every single recipe until I deem it perfect. This is how I bring you the best snickerdoodle recipe! They are thick, soft and still chewy. There is the perfect ratio of cinnamon sugar on the outside with just a little crunch.

I used the same regimented magic on these chewy sugar cookies (with the perfect amount of spread and chew), peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and double chocolate cookies. I even went through a phase where I was obsessed with perfecting classic yellow cake, white cake and a one bowl chocolate cake.

Professional Tips for Making Snickerdoodles

• Do not store the cookie dough for longer than 1 month frozen. Baking soda reacts once (instantly) in the presence of an acid (cream of tartar) and produces carbon dioxide. Once this reaction is over and the resulting gas has dissipated, the dough will not rise at all in the oven. Trust me, I learned that the hard way on a large scale.  
• Chilling the dough does make a better cookie. Baking right after mixing will make an amazing cookie BUT chilling the dough before baking will make an exceptional cookie! They will be thicker and more chewy than cakey.

Ingredients Needed

• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar is obviously here for sweetness, but if you add too much in proportion to the butter and flour, the cookies will spread rather than stay tall and chewy.
• Butter: I use unsalted butter for baking, because you want to control the amount of salt you are adding. Every brand is different and it makes adjusting the recipe a challenge.
• Whole Egg: The eggs are here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cookies chewy. Beating in the eggs just enough will add a little or a lot of leavening depending on the desired texture. Eggs also emulsify the batter and keep everything texturally perfect.
• Milk: Just the right amount of whole milk pulls the dough together but not so much to make them tough. The addition of a liquid means we have to be extra careful not to over mix the dough and activate the gluten in the flour.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla Extract adds a beautiful flavor itself but it also boosts the flavor of other ingredients around it.
• All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten to make the best snickerdoodle cookie that is soft, chewy and thick.
• Cream of Tartar: Cream of tartar is a bi-product of wine making and is very acidic. It adds that characteristic tanginess to the dough and also reacts with the baking soda for the dramatic pillowy texture!
• Baking Soda: Baking soda reacts with an acid, cream of tartar in this instance, to leaven the cookies. It reacts more powerfully than baking powder and will create a more dramatic rise, but will not continue to react in the heat of the oven or without the presence of an acid.
• Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is lass salty than table salt and a teaspoon weighs less than other finer ground varieties. It heightens the flavor here and will keep your cookies from tasting dull or flat.
• Cinnamon Sugar: Cinnamon sugar is essential for snickerdoodles. The dough is rolled in the sugar mixture just prior to baking.

Variations

• Mix up the Mix: use a different spice mix like my pumpkin pie spice mix, apple pie spice or speculoos spice mix with the exterior sugar coating  for a different twist! You could also brown the butter like I did in these brown butter cardamom snickerdoodles. Phenomenal.
• Triple Cinnamon: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough and toss in some cinnamon chips for a cinnamon party! You could also get more mix-in inspo from my cowboy cookies.
• Stuffed Snickerdoodles: Wrap the dough around a dollop of cream cheese (frozen) or a caramel candy for an easy stuffed cookie!
• Snickerdoodle Bars: Press the dough into a baking dish then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar like Averie does here. Or just dispense with the cookie all together and make snickerdoodle cake!

What makes it a Classic Snickerdoodle Cookie?

True snickerdoodles must have cream of tartar in the dough and a beautiful coating of cinnamon sugar on the outside. It is also my personal opinion that there is no cinnamon in the dough itself, but that is a much debated opinion. Snickerdoodles are thick and have a slight chew to them. This will be contentious but I’m going to put it out there: snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are just sugar cookies.

How would it change the taste to omit the cream of tartar?

Omitting the cream of tartar in snickerdoodles will eliminate that classic tangy flavor and it will also change the texture. Cream of tartar is very acidic and it reacts powerfully with the baking soda to create the soft, subtly chewy texture. Omitting it will produce more flat cookies with a denser texture.

How to Make the Best Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe

Use these instructions to make the perfect snickerdoodles every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325°F convection or 350°F conventional (no fan). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2: In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; set aside.

Step 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Step 4: Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and under the bottom to ensure an even creaming. The image below still needs to be mixed a bit before continuing to the next step. You want it to be emulsified.

Step 5: Add the milk and vanilla and beat to combine.

Step 6: Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients in several additions. Add the next portion when the last addition is almost incorporated. After adding all the flour, mix just until just incorporated.  

Step 7: Scoop with a medium cookie scoop or roll about 2 tablespoons sized pieces of dough into balls.

Step 8: In a small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon and sugar. Roll the chilled dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.

Step 9: Bake in preheated oven about 10 minutes or until puffed and set around the edges. The centers will look matte and no longer shiny.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed cookie recipes!