As it turns out, but should be really no surprise to anyone who has been following along at home, I’m not the most sane person. You see, it wasn’t enough that I baked Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies last week in hopes to win the hearts and minds of labor and delivery nurses, I became suddenly and inexplicably worried that some of them may not enjoy chocolate or cheesecake, and preoccupied myself with providing an alternative. So, to review: I have no interest in such practical things as cooking and freezing meals that will tide us over through those weeks when we have no time to cook, but I will spend my last remaining hours in the kitchen menu-planning food gifts. Totally normal, Deb. No really!
But judge away if you must, fact is, this absurd panic is a win-win for everyone. Hospital staff will have no chance against my baked goods racket, and I got to conquer snickerdoodles — a task I consider years overdue — at home (and yes, had enough leftover to briefly contemplate not sharing them at all) and you can too. Need a deal sweetener? These are perfect snickerdoodles: slightly cakey, crackly surface-d and just enough cinnamon to make your home smell like the heavens descended and landed right smack in the middle of the kitchen.
One year ago: Spinach Quiche
Two years ago: Red Velvet Cake
Three years ago: White Batter Bread
Snickerdoodles
- 2 3/4 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 16 tablespoons (8 ounces or 225 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups sugar (350 grams), plus more if needed
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
- 2 large eggs
- Heat your oven to 400°, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
- Martha recommends a size 30 (1 1/4 ounce) ice cream scoop but I used a size 40 (3/4 ounce) and they came out 3 to 4 inches across, or plenty huge.
Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine. At this point, I chilled the dough for an hour (or you can overnight) before scooping it, because I otherwise found it too difficult to scoop into balls and roll but the original recipe doesn’t find this step necessary.
Once dough has chilled, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small ice-cream scoop* to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after five minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about five minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. In theory, they can be stored in an airtight container up to one week, but I say good luck wtih that.
I get first comment! These look great- i am unfamilar with the snikerdoodle concept being from Australia, but these are definitely tempting!
Mmmmm… I love snickerdoodles! I’m always looking for a good recipe (haven’t seemed to find my favorite, yet), so I can’t wait to try these!
I’m so happy that you posted this recipe because my boyfriend’s absolute favorite cookies are snickerdoodles! I didn’t even know what they were before I met him, so I’ve had an interesting time baking different recipes and trying to figure out which was the best, without having anything to compare them to aside from my previous attempts… I’m quite excited to try your recipe!!!
The ingredients list doesn’t include shortening but the directions do – or am I going crazy?
Yes, it calls for 16 tbsp of butter, which is creamed with the sugar as you mention.
Wow! I’ve never heard of Snickerdoodles before (like Rosie, I’m in Australia) – My first thought was that they must have snickers bars in them (mmm…) but these look fantastic! So simple but so good. I’m looking forward to giving them a try!
These were one of my all time favorites growing up. Mom used to bake for a couple weeks before Christmas. Then when I moved away, I started my own baking tradition and of course these were one of my favorites again. I used to take big festively wrapped Folgers cans and fill them with 3-4 different types of cookies and a couple of different candies and give them away as gifts. There was never a year snickerdoodles weren’t included. They’re so easy to make as well. But alas, I moved to Australia and at Christmas times it’s so hot here, I don’t even want to look at my oven. Maybe before it gets to terribly hot, I’ll make some… maybe TODAY!
Hmm, I’m in New Zealand, and haven’t seen snickerdoodles around here… maybe I’ll be a trend-setter! They look scrumptious. And while I’m commenting, may I just add that in the past week I’ve made your grapefruit yogurt cake, lemon bars (citrus trees are overloaded in our back yard) and last night I made the grilled eggplant olive pizza. EVERY time I try your recipes, I am thrilled! Gah, how are you so infallible? Best of luck with the Tiny One…
PS- At first I thought it was odd that 4 of the first 7 commenters were from Australia/ New Zealand, but then I realized… time zones! We’re all on lunch break over here :)
I have two wonderful garden-clients… they occasionally make me treats. Sometimes even cocktails. I take extra special care of them. So Deb, this is good news for you.
At the moment, I am kind of wishing I went into nursing instead of horticulture.
Need a gardener?
;) Michaela
Snickerdoodles aren’t popular here in Eastern Canada but I made them once and really liked them. The recipe I found at the time led to a more domed cookie but that could have been because of the temp of my dough or something.
I will have to try these out! I just baked your apple cake for my boyfriend’s birthday and he loved it :) Thanks!
okay, you will think i’m weird, but i have already planned my future funeral program (little control freaky, huh, but my husband thought it was a great idea). on the back of the program is my mom’s snickerdoodle recipe! i’m only fifty and hopefully have many more years to live, but i love to plan ahead. i bake everyday and it only seems fitting to leave everyone a cookie recipe.
It is very funny to me that your sense of humor is running out of patience just as mine did every time with the due date looming. Best of luck Deb. And also please let us send presents somewhere.
she must be going into labor! She must be, because she left the shortening off the ingredient list…
these are the yummiest cookies for the non chocolate kind…
I modified the recipe by adding the zest of one lemon to the cookie batter. It really makes a difference. You don’t really taste the lemon at all, but there’s just a happy bright note in the cookies.
Food gifts! They’re normal as far as I’m concerned, in fact I just wrote a short essay on them! They are always worth more than they cost!
Is there supposed to be cinnamon in the dough?
No, you sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the dough before baking.
I am so excited to try these! Snickerdoodles are a childhood favorite that I have not made in a long time. The nurses at your hospital are going to give you the white glove treatment with gifts like these! I have a feeling you are going to become a hospital legend!
Oh Yum. Can’t wait to try. I love soft snicker doodles, not so much a fan of the crisp ones. Looks delish!
LOVE snickerdoodles and have not made them in awhile. When I was a child (probably 10 or 11) I made snickerdoodles for my 4-H project for our county fair and won a blue ribbon — just love that cookie! :)
um, super dee duper yummy!
how many more posts do you think you can spit out before baby time??
countdown…
I love snickerdoodles, barely singed. So I cook them for the absolute minimum time. And I use all butter, no shortening. I know they’re flatter that way because butter has a lower melting point than shortening, but butter is so delicious!
My grandpa always loved Snickerdoodles. Thank you for bringing up a happy memory of him. I love how food does that :)
My sisters favorite cookie. I may have to surprise her with these! Thanks.
Snickerdoodles are my FAVORITE cookies. I love that creamy tang in the aftertaste.. (swooooooon). I haven’t tried Martha’s recipe yet; I’m a big fan of the recipe in Betty Crocker’s “The Cooky Book,” which is shortening-based and still somehow absolutely delicious. I never make them, though, because as much as I cook, I cannot make a decent cookie to save my soul.
My nurse of a mother would like you to know that, as buttering up your hospital staff goes, your method is ‘definitely going to work.’ Thanks for the recipe, congratulations, and good luck!
Those nurses are not ready for you! :) Lucky them. Love a traditional snickerdoodle, but we also like them super spicy! Make them really fun to eat.
Oh, I love snickerdoodles. I came to them late, only had my first 2 years ago–they were in a care package sent to me in the hospital after the holidays I need to find a reason to make these. I made your honey cake last night, and i’ll be making one of your chocolate cakes as cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday
thanks for all the wonderful recipes, and Shana tova!
These look dreamy, Deb! I’m a first-time commenter but I’ve been eyeballing your recipes for months now- the baking ones are my favorites. Wishing you and Alex a happy, healthy, and very sweet new year! And may you have a safe and easy delivery.
These sound yummy! How much shortening is needed?
Whoops! No shortening. Martha called for it; I prefer all butter. Now fixed.
Oh my gosh! I made these so often when I was younger…I think they were the first cookies I ever baked by myself! I made so many and so often that it was years before I ate another! But these look so good, I’m tempted for sure.
I’ve still never had a snickerdoodle. I wouldn’t even know what a good one is supposed to taste like. Coincidentally, someone was just asking me for an ultimate recipe and I guess I’ll simply point her here.
Ah, snickerdoodles!
Glad to see you’ve got it right. So many recipes claim to be ‘real’ but leave out the cream of tartar. Without the cream of tartar, they’re just cinnamon covered sugar cookies, which misses the point. :)
Deb, I am swooning, drooling, clapping and hopping around and shaking my bum like a little kid, SNICKERDOODLES ARE MY ALL TIME FAVORITE COOKIE!!!! YIPEEEEEEE!!! I am making them tomorrow evening in order to start Friday off on a good note for our office staff, we love to eat and I’ve shared your blog with everyone there so YEY and DOUBLE YEY! Sending you and hubby-Alex good thoughts, good wishes and happy blessings on your big event. Life as you know it will never be the same again, can’t wait to welcome you to the rollercoaster life of Motherhood. The L&D staff will love you!
Wow, my grandmother has been making these cookies for me since I can remember. A few weeks ago she even mailed me some (seriously!) all the way from Texas (I live in Canada). And they were still delicious.
My husband’s absolute favorites are snickerdoodles, and I was planning to make them this weekend! I’ve been trying to perfect the recipe, so I will definitely give these a shot. How much shortening, though??
They’re just fun to say. Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle. Snickerdoodle.
Wait, are they related to Beetlejuice?
Okay…Now you are finally prepared for Motherhood! I had never had a Snickerdoodle until I was a Mom and needed a different cookie recipe before we burned out on Molassas Crinkles and Peanut Butter cookies. I sure am glad I took a chance and tried them for the kids one day. All of us went mad for them. Like Lisa, #24, I use the Betty Crocker recipe; and from the Cooky Book, no less! Betty’s recipe uses all shortening and I have been leary of using it once I found out about the toxicity of the transfats in shortening. I’ve since switched to the transfat free shortening, but I don’t trust that it’s really transfat free. (I won’t yell “Liar!” ) I haven’t made them in a while cuz I didn’t want flat ones that I thought the butter would turn out. I’ll try your recipe and chill them really well and see if I can retain the thick, crackly goodness to which I’ve grown accustomed. At least your recipe doesn’t use vanilla like so many other recipes. It would ruin it for me! Thanks, Deb!
Oh man, these would be so good right now! Too bad I have no strength or energy to make them. :) I’ll have to file the recipe away for later!
this is a family favorite at my house
Snickerdoodles are a classic! What’s not to love?! :)
Snickerdoodles are awesome. Mainly because once you spring for the cream of tartar, you always have all the ingredients to make them in the house. When I was in grad school and got a cookie craving, I might not have chocolate for brownies, and I might not have peanut butter or oatmeal or other things to make other cookies, but dammit, I could always make snickerdoodles.
I made chocolate chip earlier today for the boys now I wish I had made these instead…well there is always tomorrow.
huh… how ironic that not a couple of hours before you posted this, I was on your site looking at the cookie recipes for inspiration. is this a sign?
Snickerdoodles are probably one of my fave cookies besides gingersnaps. Yum! Yours look absolutely delicious!
My aunt used to have snickerdoodles in her cookie jar – because they lived in Lancaster, PA, I always associate them with Amish culture (tho’ my dad’s family is Anglo-Orange Irish Presbyterian), and next to chewy oatmeal raisin, they are my favorite cookies in the world. I MUST introduce these to my children. Thanks.
I’ve been making these for a few years using a recipe that called them “Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies,” but Snickerdoodles is a way better name! I will be sure to try this recipe out as well — I’m curious to try it with the addition of cream of tartar.
I don’t comment often, but I make tons of your recipes, Deb. You’re fabulous!
Thank you for no shortening! I try not to use it in my baking, but all the great snickerdoodle recipes I’ve seen/tried have used shortening. Now I can try these!
For some reason the c8nammin grabbed onto these but the sugar didn’t stick when I rolled them. Any suggestions/ideas?
The fat person in me wants to under-bake these cookies, crumble them, and mix them into homemade vanilla ice cream with a caramel-cinnamon swirl. glorious.
Alright, I need to know…what is the role of the cream of tartar in these? And why is vanilla such a big no-no? I know I’ve had them at some point in my life, but I don’t really remember what they tasted like. Yours look absolutely fabulous!!
Snickerdoodles scream childhood to me. We ate them far more often than chocolate chip- fond memories!
What a Great treat!
you are hilarious. i enjoy you and your logic.
I haven’t made Snickerdoodles in forever! I always use my grandma’s recipe. I’m not sure hers has cream of tartar.
ohhh..I love Snickerdoodles, especially right out of the oven…it’s 10 pm here in Austin but there is still a cookie delivery place open for another hour. I think I will have to satisfy my craving thanks to Deb.
How fun! I don’t think I’ve made snickerdoodles since I was a kid. Now you’ve got me craving them.
I’ve had my eye on this particular recipe for some time now. Thanks so much for the wonderful inspiration.
My mom and I LOVE snickerdoodles – but we spread the dough in a 13 x 9 pan, sprinkle it with the cinnamon and sugar and then SLIGHTLY underbake it. This gives you crunchy corners and a fluffy but with a hint of sour center. Divine.
Once Smitten Jr. gets here, you might want to try this method – it’s fast and tasty!
And I think no nurse will be able to resist you with your baked bribes. May you have an easy labor!
Oh yes , I can assure you that the labor and delivery nurses loved those cookies(I was one of the lucky ones). Your baby has a sweet, generous and thoughtful mom. All the best.
These look awesome! I should make some with the little girl I nanny for. The only snickerdoodles she has ever had came from a Pepperidge Farm bag. I feel as though it’s my job to let her experience the true cookie in its best form:)
Mmmmmmm I just made these, and they are absolutely delicious! My dough didn’t need to be refrigerated to be scooped/rolled into balls, but I did anyways for 5-15 minutes or so. Also, I omitted the salt since I used salted butter, but now I wish I would have put some in. These are definitely going on a recipe card to be made wherever I need a cinnamon fix!
P.S. Deb, I adore your blog. If you ever publish a cookbook, I would buy it in a heartbeat! Thanks for inspiring me to cook delicious things.
These look so good!! I actually don’t think I have ever had a snickerdoodle, believe it or not, but they definitely seem like something that would be right up my alley. I can’t wait to report back and tell you how they were. Thanks for a great idea!
My mom was a chocolate-chip-cookie mom. In fact, that’s the only kind of mom she was. She did not like to bake or cook, which left me in the kitchen, fending for myself. As it turns out, making dinner for my four siblings and my parents was great practice for making dinner for my four kids and husband…except it’s usually with the husband and not just for. It also make me love the kitchen. I was rebellious. Love what she hates. The kitchen. And Snickerdoodles.
Maybe all the baking is your form of nesting. ;)
A friend of mine made this recipe and it was delish! I’m going to have to make it this weekend since I’m going over to her place :)
i worked in a coffee shop through college too, so i don’t think it’s just a 90s cliche (i graduated in 2008).
also, on the topic of snickerdoodles, they were the first baked good i ever made from scratch, when i was little. what memories they bring back! i might try your recipe this weekend. =)
I LOVE snickerdoodles! It’s always amazing to me how many people have never had them. I think they’re a delicious cookie that are overlooked too often.
My beloved grandmother was loads of fun and a terrible cook. (my rail-thin dad gained 25 pounds the first year he was married to my mom, a great cook.) Grandma’s sole claim to fame in the kitchen was her recipe for Snickerdoodles, they were delicious and we used to beg her to whip up a batch, and she never said no. Thanks for bringing back a fond memory, these look just like hers!
I love snickerdoodles! Makes me hungry for one right now…
After the chocolate/cheesecake brownie recipe, I’m convinced you’ve hatched some conspiracy to derail my diet. Snickerdoodles I cannot resist. I’m gonna need to figure out who I can give these to (minus 3 to 4 for myself).
This takes me back. My mom baked Snickerdoodles and I can’t tell you how excited I was to open my lunchbox (yes, lunchbox, metal, with matching Thermos), to find two Snickerdoodles. I think the Snickerdoodle was the impetus for the tag line, “You can’t eat just one.” Yum!!
when my mom was pregnant with me, and having early labor contractions, she coped with the contractions by baking dozens and dozens of chocolate chip cookies to take to the hospital with her – so you’re not the only one! :-) she says that her contractions were timed perfectly around how often she had to turn the cookie sheets in the oven. i always tell this story when people ask me how i learned to bake.
Not to worry, Deb. You’ll find time to cook—just not always at traditional cooking times. Our first Valentine’s Day after the birth of our first daughter [then about six weeks old], we had steaks and champagne about 11 o’clock, after she’d finally fallen asleep.
Oh, and how rude of me. All the best, Deb. You’ll all do great. The next exciting chapter is about to begin.
Aww, I love snickerdoodles. Fall always makes me want to whip some up.
snickerdoodles might be the finest cookies EVER created. I am going to try your recipe…I usually leave the cream of tarter out.
This is my favorite cookie, and I’m a real chocolate lover. My latest favorite baking cookbook insists that these must have shortening, but I’m going to stick to all butter. I’m making them for a baby shower and will think good thoughts of you as you approach L-day.
pat
So tempting!
Hi!
I am craving to try these, but can I replace cream of tartar with something? We don’t have it here in Finland. Thanks for answering and for the lovely recipe! :-)
So that’s what Snickerdoodles are! This Australian has been very confused for years (I thought they were more brownie like. I have no idea why.)
I, too, had never conquered snickerdoodles until recently. I made mine because my daughter was undergoing a dairy-free diet for a short period of time (testing to see if she was allergic to milk—she wasn’t, thankfully), and I wanted to make her some cookies—snickerdoodles seemed like a good cookie to fiddle around with. I made mine with coconut oil and lard instead of butter and it made an INCREDIBLE difference. The cookies were a little more (delightfully so) crispy and chewy, and there was the faintest hint of coconut which made my heart flutter uncontrollably. Despite being so plain and down-homey, they felt super-exotic and classy. And they were so, so good. Your nurses are some lucky people!
Can I tell you that someone brought my snickerdoodles the day I had my daughter and they actually had healing effects?! Your stomach cramps and hurts when you have a baby and these had a way of coating the stomach and making me feel better (I was told that breastfeeding helps to contract your stomach and shrink it back down-and that is what the cramps are from). I ate them for the first few days. Just thought I would let you know. I will definitely be making a batch before baby #2 just for that reason. Good luck, Deb!
Hee hee. Snickerdoodle. Just saying it makes me laugh. Snickerdoodle.
I think it’s thoughtful of you to be baking cookies for your nurses!
I never knew what a Snickerdoodle was,living in London, but now i know! And since cinnamon is my favourite spice, this is what i’m making at the weekend! Thanks Deb.
i have begun to really tire of making chocolate chip cookies (your recipe!), so i’m excited to have a recipe for snickerdoodle … which is my favorite cookie. thanks for sharing, deb! your desire to have the labor & delivery nurses adore you will come true! :)
Wishing I had these to share with freinds and family (and our awesome nurses) now that we’ve been moved to our postpartum room. We made the brownies as bribes but left in too big of a hurry to take them with us… I guess we have homebaked goodness to look forward to when we return home with baby. Congrats Deb, and keep doing what you need to to get thru the last few weeks – it’s a long wait, but so worth it!
After living in the deep south all of my life, I had to move to Ohio for a few years with my new husband. Among the many things I was concerned about, driving in snow, where I would ever find turnips and collards….I wondered if I would ever make friends in this new “land”. The day our furniture arrived, my neighbor from across the street did too. She came with a crock pot of shredded roast beef, homemade rolls, and a wonderful still warm from the oven plate of cookies…Snickerdoodles! She and I became fast friends and I cherish that friendship to this day. That neighbor had 5 children, two of which were 3 year old twins at the time. I’ve always said that only someone who spends time in the kitchen themself, can truly appreaciate a gift of food. Those cookies were heavenly. The aroma made our new home smell like a home. She and I spent the next 4 years sharing with each other our tried and true family recipes. Thank you so much for bringing that sweet memory back for me this morning.
Snickerdoodles are my FAVORITE cookies…I may have to make these very very soon…
Snickerdoodles are definitely on my top 3 of favorite cookies. Usually, when it comes to cookies & ice cream, my motto is “the more add-ins, the better” – but I love the simplicity that is the snickerdoodle.
Thanks so much for this recipe, I’ve been wanting to try my hand at snickerdoodles for ages, and this looks like a perfect recipe (certainly judging by the pictures!). I’ll be making them for a charity event next week, the Macmillan Coffee Morning (UK charity, google Macmillan + coffee), yay for charity, cake and coffee :) Thanks again!
Did you have your baby?! I see one of the L&D nurses commented (#59).
My family loves snickerdoodles. They are fun cookies to make with small children because the children can help roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and learn how much fun it is to bake with Mom. Good luck.
I’m hosting a small concert tomorrow night and promised to provide baked goods. These are just the thing!
Oh yum I love snickerdoodles. I really must bake them more often.
Every kids favorite cookie growing up. Even learned to ‘cook’ them in school when the class was called ‘homemaking’. Now it’s called Lifestyles. Your nesting stage is filled with all sorts of favorite foods. Cinnamon is my second favorite, chocolate first and I don’t mind mixing the two either.
Thank you for posting a REAL snickerdoodle recipe that has more than just 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar. People say they’re just sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar and I say “then you haven’t tried one of my mom’s snickerdoodles.” The bite from the cream of tartar is really what makes the cookie to me. But maybe that’s just because I like how my mom has always made them.
I love snickerdoodles. What I really love, though, is that I’m not alone in this insane quest to please everyone I’m baking for…I go through panic modes “what if so-and-so doesn’t like chocolate?” or when doing a main entree for a crowd “what about the vegetarians? What should I do for them?”. So while it may not be completely normal, perhaps we’re not the only ones, and we should start a club.
I had to laugh. You sound just like me, always worrying that someone isn’t going to be into something I make so I end up making a number of things to please everyone.
I haven’t had a snickerdoodle in a long time. Thanks for the reminder.
You do realize that while the nurses will absolutely appreciate your baked goods, that it’s not that big a deal for them?
I mean, what if my MIL is your L&D nurse? She has celiac disease.
Because my 3rd child was born at 7:30 in the morning, we just brought coffee (8 cups) and doughnuts for the staff from Tim Hortons.
Snickerdoodles are pretty much the most perfect cookie ever. And for some reason, it really relaxes me to roll those little balls of dough.
Sometimes I add mini chocolate chips and the cinnamon and chocolate combination is fantastic.
I don’t care what anyone says. I think your nursing staff is going to be the luckiest women alive for one day!
Deb, they are not common here in Brazil, so I tasted for the first time 3 years ago or so, when I’d began blogging. I completely fell for snickerdoodles and they have become one of my all time favorite cookies!
mmm these look so good – as do all the ingredients and unbaked cookies! Had a chuckle at the pic of the creamed butter and sugar. You really should try BeaterBlade for that. I never had the patience to get that beautiful creamy texture that’s in your photo (actually I never realised that was how it was supposed to look!). You always make the food look amazing. Congrats and best wishes on the impending birth. Hope it all goes to (your) plan.
I had never heard of snickerdoodles until my then 10 year old daughter and I were in a mother-daughter book club and we read a book where one of the characters loved Snickerdoodles. Being a baker, I decided to make some for the book group meeting. They were AWESOME! A great cookie, so easy to make with ingredients any baker would have on hand. I’m sure Martha’s recipe is great – but really, most Snickerdoodle recipes are the same, there are so few ingredients it’s hard to do it a million different ways. Cookie perfection!
You sound so much like me, I can TOTALLY see me doing the same thing. I wasn’t much of a baker or cook 3 years ago, but those nurses would have to watch out for the waistlines if I was giving birth now (God forbid!) Recently I made Snickerdoodle muffins, but have never made or EATEN the actual cookie if you can believe it… I think it might just be time time, these look sooo good!
Snickerdoodles are my most favorite cookie ever! I have such wonderful memories of my Mom making them for me growing up and bringing me shoeboxes full of them in college! I am a new reader and I am absolutely adore your website! The photos are just gorgeous and inspire me every day to cook or bake! I cant wait to try your recipe!
Can I halve this recipe?
For some reason, I’ve always been a little intimidated by Snickerdoodles … not sure why, but I thought they were way more complex than this. Thanks for this recipe that actually looks do-able and delicious!!!!
PS. Best of luck to you ……
Kristie (the one from OKC who met you at the Pioneer Woman’s lodge that time ….)
SNICKERDOODLES! YAY! I have been waiting for this recipe to pop up, it’s like I won the lottery!
YUM!!! I’ve been trying to think of a cookie to embed the new pumpkin hershey kisses in. This would be PERFECT!!!!
Okay, okay, okay! I’ll make snickerdoodles. I only had them once or twice as a kid, and haven’t had them at all since realizing I can’t eat wheat. BUT now I’ll buy some cream of tartar and spelt flour and get to it! My hubby loves sugar cookies, but I think he & the kids will like these more :)
The only way I used cream of tartar before is when stir-frying! It helps broccoli and carrots maintain their bright color, and adds a drop of tang. I’ll look forward to having it in the kitchen again….
I’m just wondering how these are being stored for the delivery room nurses… Do you bake then freeze? Or freeze then hope to have enough time to bake them off before you make a dash for the hospital? (I have no delivery room nurses to bribe, but I’m always looking for ways to do baked goods ahead of time.)
I was really confused at one point because the pictures of the snickerdoodles on the baking sheets look like donut holes…I now understand they are awesome cookies that flatten when baked (yay lots of butter! yay no baking powder!). Can’t wait to try these!
p.s. Confused meaning I thought you were baking both snickerdoodles AND donut holes. Not that hard to fathom given your baking craze!
I just made Snickerdoodles for the first time a week ago when my kids wanted something other than chocolate chip, and it was a disaster! They were more like snickerdoodle pancakes, and way too sweet. Now I’ll have to try your recipe, they look so yummy!
OMG. The perfect Fall cookie only after a ginger-molasses cookie. I may have misspoken. It could be they tie. My appetite is whetted.
Ooh growing up my mom and I made so many batches of these together. Keep this recipe in mind since even the littlest hands can help roll the cookies (we never used an ice cream scoop) and what kid doesn’t like rolling cookie dough in cinnamon and sugar?
These look great. I recently found a recipe ( I think through tastespotting) for Snickerdoodle blondies. I haven’t tried it yet, but it is lurking in the back of my mind, calling to me. Now these…
Long time reader, first time commenter – and here’s why I’m finally commenting:
I LOVE SNICKERDOODLES! I’ve been searching high and low for a good recipe and the last one was a disaster. The dough was so sticky it was like trying to roll balls of dough out of cement and superglue. Looking forward to trying this recipe! This weekend! Thanks Deb.
even after 10 years in the US i thought that snickerdoodles had snickers in them, but it sounds like a very cinnamon-y cookie. yum.
Snickerdoodles are awesome – I think your nurses will be at your beck and call.
I love snickerdoodles. I make some every Christmas. There is NOTHING wrong with thinking about bribing nurses. Although I for one had freezer full of food before my daughter came with dinner, but your nurses will love you and give you extra hour of sleep while at the hospital. good luck
They look perfect – I love snickerdoodles but have never made them, so I just saved the recipe! I’m with you on preferring butter too.
the first time i’ve had snickerdoodle, i was expecting a cookie with bits of snickers candybar in them, alas it was a generic coffee shop and i was not impressed. i will give these a try though, what can go wrong with butter sugar and cinnamon anyway?
Ooo…definitely one of my favorite cookies of all time! My grandmother makes what I would describe as the definitive recipe, but it’s awfully similar to Martha’s. I’ll be trying these this weekend.
My mother is a labor and delivery nurse here in South Florida. I told her about your tactics with the baked goods and she laughed. She wanted me to assure you that labor and delivery nurses love ANYTHING chocolate or sweet. So I think you’ll be in the clear my dear. I hope everything goes well with your delivery!
Oh, yeah! Snickerdoodles are one of those baked goods that are only worth having if they’re a really really good version. Or homemade. That must be why I never have them. Must remedy.
My favorite cookie in the world. I am a total chocaholic, but I chose these over a chocolate chip cookie, every time.
May fiancé’s parents are coming up this weekend and I think I will make a batch of snickerdoodles for them. No better way to make a good impression then with fresh baked cinnamon cookies, right?
What on earth do Snickerdoodles taste like? Someone convince me that they taste different than Taco Bell’s Cinnamon Twists (think: Puffed Pork skin dipped in cinnamon sugar? Like, gross or what?). Do they taste like real cookies? Are they worth wasting (ahem-using) TWO STICKS OF BUTTER (or one, for that matter?). Somebody? Annnyyybody?
I can’t wait to try this! We love snickerdoodles, but I have not found the perfect recipe!
I’m going to agree with Martha – I like a bit of shortening in my snickerdoodles. I think it lightens up the texture. So I’ll swap 1/2 cup of butter for shortening, since I like to use about 1/4 of the total volume of fat in shortening form.
The perfect treat for today’s rainy day that just begs me to be in the kitchen.
My kids will be so thankful!
I feel the immediate need to bake these tonight!
Now that I compare this recipe to Betty Crocker’s, it’s only difference is that this one uses all butter instead of shortening with the option of using half butter. Now I’ll try it for sure and add just a little extra flour to absorb the water in the butter. Betty’s recipe also only used 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in the coating mix, and it was very cinnamon-y. I can’t imagine how brown these must be!
Snickerdoodles are the best cookie! They melt in your mouth and are insanely addictive! My mom used to make them all the time and they bring back great childhood memories for me! Excellent cookie choice Deb!
To Stoich91 – they are in NO WAY associated w/ anything at Taco Bell!!! They are chewy and buttery. Like the greatest piece of cinnamon toast in cookie form!
A tip about bribing nurses – make sure you have lots of goodies on hand b/c you may be there for more than one shift! You want the final group to have goodies too – they are the ones who are there when it REALLY counts. ;) I don’t want to scare you but my first labor I went through 3 sets of nurses! How excited are you about THAT prospect??
Ooooh! These are so delicious looking, and it has been at least a year (probably more) since I last made snickerdoodles. Maybe I can make an after work egg run… or resign myself to Saturday Snickies.
No need to press gently with bottom of a drInking glass? That’s all I remember about making these in the 80s with my mom.
Anyway, they’re in the oven now, impressed and smelling divine. Kids almost home from school. And the dog’s asleep. Now all I need is the mailman to come with a new magazine and it’ll be a perfect afternoon.
Lovely! I have been looking for a perfect snickerdoodle recipe for some time and I will definitely try these…also count me in as one of those intrigued by the lack of glass-smooshing involved here.
Snickerdoodles are a big thing from my childhood, my mom used to make them all the time. Those look fantastic, I really need to make some myself!
THANK YOU, Jen. :-) Gotta make these, now that you make them sound so absolutely MOUTH-WATERING-LY DELICIOUS!!! :-) Yum! Hey, No Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists? Whew! I’m there. :-) I guess this will be my first snickerdoodle experience…
i love making snickerdoodles mostly because you get to use cream of tarter…for some reason, that fascinates me! i’m weird.
I love you for this recipe. I have been trying to conjure up a way to get a recipe for some yummy cakey snickerdodles that a friend (with whom I fell out of touch) made for me once. The recipe I have is too crisp. But now I have this one – problem solved! And I’m happy you cut the trans fat-filled shortening for good ol’ butter:)
and I only have 99 days to fill up my bribe freezer ;)
Can these be made without tartar? I hate to buy it for just this one recipe and I’ve gotten along without it for decades. But I may not be able to get along without these cookies I’ve been wanting to try for so long since I love love love cinnamon.
I saw this recipe and for some reason had to make them…immediately. Went to the store, got the tartar and cinnamon (how my husband of 3 months didn’t have cinnamon I have no idea) and now they’re cooling…I’m scared if I eat one they’ll all be gone before he gets home from work. They smell so good…
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I started buying butter in bulk at Sam’s to save a little money (since I, sadly, go through THAT MUCH butter that I need to buy it in bulk). But they only have salted butter, so I now have a fridge full. I cook with it just fine, but I haven’t tried baking with it yet.
Could I use regular salted butter and just omit the 1/4 tsp of salt?
For that matter, what’s your opinion on baking with salted butter in general?
oh, boy, wish i were nearby so i could be a guest, or a fake nurse. or a handholder at labor, whatever. .. . just for a free cookie. :)
good luck and more good luck with the new arrival, new arriver… its a blast, a wild shock no matter how you have prepared, and then it gets fun…mom of two boys , dear god.
I didn’t grow up with snickerdoodles either, but I’ve since been converted! ;)
Question: Can I sub paking powder for the cream of tartar and baking soda, and if so, how much? Thanks!
Cream of tartar questions — Theory is that cream of tartar makes the cookie cakier than baking soda or powder alone would. I have never tested it both ways, instead stuck with the ingredient that so many deem essential.
Nope – can’t sub the leavening! The extra cream of tartar is what makes a snickerdoodle taste like a snickerdoodle – otherwise, it’s just a sugar cookie with cinnamon.
Me, I prefer them made with shortening. I think butter adds a definable flavor that detracts from the overall taste of the cookie. I’d negotiate on that, but never the extra cream of tartar!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I love to bake and have tried numerous recipes for snickerdoodles… they haven’t all been complete failures but most have come close, too hard or not snickerdoodley enough. I needed a tried and true snickerdoodle recipe and you delivered!
Also thank you for all your posts. I’m a regular SK blog stocker, you have impeccable taste, are brilliantly articulate and I am grateful to have found you:)
Enjoy Momming! And keep Cooking and Blogging!
Jessi in Tallahassee Florida
Snickerdoodles are my all-time favorite non-chocolate cookie. They were my specialty in high school (which was back in the Jurassic Era). I always took them to picnics and other potluck-type events, and they were always devoured posthaste. My recipe uses shortening, like Nicole’s, but I’m going to try this recipe with the butter, too – research, you know.
So, last weekend, I wanted to make Snickerdoodles…and I naturally came to SK first, and saw that there was no Snickerdoodles recipe! I wish I had waited, because the recipe I ended up using was kind of meh. C’est la vie, I suppose–thanks for posting this for all of my future Snickerdoodles ventures!
You Americans really can’t stop with the weird dessert names, can you? Or the giant cookies…give an Aussie a 4 inch cookie and they’ll look at you like you’ve lost your brain. Maybe I’ll shock them anyway.
so i tried to read through all the comments to see if this had been asked yet, but after about 50, I ran out of steam,(i imagine you spend half the day reading comments every time you post!) so sorry if this is a repeat. do you know why cream of tartar is that secret ingredient to the snicker-doodle? snicker-doodles are the only reason i have cream of tartar in the house.
My snickerdoodle recipes always called for maple syrup, and I really like the way that flavor played with the cinnamon. Perhaps it’s not as traditional as I thought. Now, of course, I’ll have to dust off my old recipe and compare it to this one. Or figure out how to incorporate maple syrup without ruining the consistency. Hmm…
You could probably use Rumford baking powder, (or another single actiing baking powder) in place of the cream of tartar and baking soda; it has both in it. It doesn’t contain the sodium aluminum sulfate that double acting baking, powder contains. In this recipe, probably 3 tsp. would work and might not affect the flavor.
I had no idea what a snickerdoodle was (though I love that name!) & I never bothered to find out. By assscociation of ideas, I always thought it would be something like a Snickers bar, which I hate. Thanks to you I now know that I will like very much. All the cinnamon *droo-ool*!! This is definitely on my try list.
You’re pretty amazing! I haven’t had a child yet but when I do and am in your position, I’m pre-tty sure food gifts will be the last thing on my mind!!
I wish you & yours health & happiness!!
I’m so happy you’ve finally tackled the Snickerdoodle. I grew up on these cookies (this recipe in fact – just called my mom to check!) and I love them something fierce. The only difference is we make them small. That way you get to eat more and not feel so guilty! :)
Deb, I AM A LABOR & DELIVERY NURSE!! We LOVE it when patients brings us treats! Especially the night shift, because where I work there are no cafeterias or nearby 24-hour restaurants available. So, you should be quite popular and hopefully everything goes smoothly and you have a wonderful healthy delivery for you and the baby. Good luck!
Um, I love saying “snickerdoodles”… I am not kidding, I have been saying this all day. I love this word! I love the cookies even more and just wanted to tell you what a great recipe this is! Snickerdoodles for the whole family tonight… and they love the word too!
snickerdoodles! ok. I’m done.
Your labor nurse is going to love you so much that she will let you have TWO EPIDURALS!!
I LOVE snickerdoodles and can vouch from experience that nurses LOVE treats! They’ll love these. Somehow I think that you’ll have plenty of food around to not worry about freezing it on your own.
Making these tonight! Yum!
Snickerdoodles are among my all-time faves, can’t wait to try this!!!
Love Snickerdoodles. these were the first cookies we baked in Jr Hi HomeEc. I also like to use part shortening and part butter like Martha’s. Most shortenings today are transfat free for those worried about that. I also add a tsp of vanilla and a pinch of nutmeg to the dough for some flavor.
You’re still around? I thought for SURE you’d be birthing that baby by now! Happy New Year to you and your hubby and looking forward to hearing about your bitsy bitsy baby that’s soon a coming! Good luck!
OOOOOOOO YOU ARE SUCH AN INSPIRATION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Snickerdoodles are one of my most fav cookies! :D
Hello – I love Snickerdoodles! I usually use vanilla in mine to add a little more flavor. It’s so good! Thanks for the post – very insightful. If you want to know about which wines might go well with Snickerdoodles, check out the website attached to my name! (The guy really knows his stuff!)…
haha ive made this recipe before, they turn out great :]
Given the fact that my name is Cinnamon, I have no choice but to love these cookies. The fact that they are delicious, and not really interchangeable with any other cookies helps, too. :) Good choice, Deb – love the recipe, love your site!
Snickerdoodles are my husband’s absolute favorite. Will be trying this recipe as a belated birthday gift to him soon. Thanks!
Oh YUM!!!! My favorite cookie—so good I had to quit lurking around and comment!
THANKS!!!!!!!
Thanks Deb! I was just wondering about substituting baking powder for the baking soda and cream of tarter because I thought that baking powder was comprised of baking soda and cream of tartar (among other things). If I make this recipe, I’ll stick to it as written. ;)
My mom and I used to make these around Christmas time and only Christmas time because the recipe she used made A TON of cookies. She would roll out the little balls and my job was to roll them in the cinnamon-sugar. She’d get extra festive and use red and green dusting sugar :)
She used the recipe from The Cooky Book too. Man, these bring back so many memories. Yum.
Cinnamon and butter and sugar, oh my! Simply delightful, and perfect for fall. I have yet to find the “right” recipe for snickerdoodles, but this must be it. Pictures to drool over, indeed. You’re making me hungry for cookies and it’s bedtime now.
And you, Deb, are without a doubt one of the most gorgeous women in the world, pregnant or otherwise. How in the world do you look so glam when you are about to give birth?! Blessings on you and the little one who will no doubt emerge from the womb smacking tiny lips and demanding some of those cookies!
The cookies just cooled down enough to eat and I am totally pleased with the result. I have tried many different Snickerdoodle recipes and thought I had a pretty good one, but I think I will be switching over to this recipe from now on! I added a little nutmeg to the dough and am quite a happy baker:) Great idea, BTW, of bringing baked goods to the nurses to keep in your room–wish I had thought of that…
This is my exact cookie recipe I have used for 20 years! They are so good, easy and never last long. Don’t know why I only make them at Christmas! Just a tradition I guess.
I’m just like you in the baking part and not making dinners,your sane don’t worry! :)
I posted before when you made the brownies. I am now on my third batch of goodies for the nurses, but the longer I’m pregnant, the faster they seem to disappear out of the freezer! I guess I’ll have to try these next, or perhaps find something to make that I don’t like myself. I’m 41 weeks today (sob), and despite the baby being fully “cooked,” I’ve still managed to add 2 pounds in the last week!
Well, I was going to make these as soon as this was published yesterday but then I realized we were out of eggs. (Hubby, again!!) A quick trip to the store today and they were a hit. Thanks so much for always having the perfect recipe.
Friday night 7,30pm in New Zealand and were going to make Snickerdoodle cookies. Watch this space for feedback (^.^)
Gosh, how can you resist a cookie with a name like SNICKERDOODLE? If it contained toxic waste I’d probably eat it.
very yummy.
Olga
You just can’t go wrong with a snickerdoodle. I’m one of those crazies who doesn’t like chocolate, so if I were on the hospital staff, you’d be my prize patient!
Good luck with the birth…Im right behind you by about 6 weeks.
I suggest you try lemon juice in place of cream of tartar. The flavor is great. Cream of Tartar is an acid to activate the base in the baking soda/powder, and lemon juice works the same way. Try it, you will love it. Also, the shortening has less water than butter, so it will produce a slightly different product. But I prefer butter.
I just need a glass of milk :-)
Alba
I love snickerdoodles…that was always the treat that my mom allowed when I was little after the food shopping was done would stop by the bakery for a snack. ah the memories. The unbaked versions look like beautiful little donuts!
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever had snickerdoodles before!!! They are super cute, and dear me, your photography is so beautiful! I’m jealous =p.
Sounds like the perfect fall cookie! And might I add…I wish my butter was as photogenic as yours, they’re so stylish!
Thanks for posting this. My little boy (6) has wanted me to bake snickerdoodles for-ever, but I just didn’t have a great recipe!
Martha’s snickerdoodles are perfect. They don’t come out tasting eggy and gross like other recipes I’ve tried. It’s nice to add vanilla to them sometimes, but honestly I love that they taste mostly of butter/sugar/cinnamon. Mmmmmmmm.
Also good is merging chocolate chip and snickerdoodle recipes (use brown sugar and chocolate chips) to make chocolate-chiperdoodles
What do you think about freezing individual balls of this dough? We do that quite regularly with Leite’s consumate chocolate chip cookie dough (11-4-08) with great results! It’s really great to bake a few at a time and to have a store in the freezer whenever you need a sugar fix!! We have made so many of your recipes – all with terrific results. Good luck with your delivery.
Wow! These cookies seem to have hit the nostaligic cord with so many of your readers. I just had a wonderful time reading people’s memories of these cookies…. I don’t have any such childhood associations, but my cousins both love these kind of cookies, yet I always think they taste eggy, so I’m game to try another recipe and see if I can figure out what all the fuss is.
Go on Deb, have a cookie – as a new cooking blogging writing mom in Paris, I have but one piece of advice. Eat what you enjoy – and find a few recipes for the first weeks that you can make (and eat) with one hand. Good Luck!
I just made these last night and they were quite good. however, I thought they turned out a little thin and crispy. I’m guessing this was from using all butter instead of adding some shortening in there? Did anybody else notice this? They tasted great, but the texture just wasn’t what I wanted.
I never liked snickerdoodles, but I made these and they taste good. They are thin and crisp, but I like them that way.
You’re not strange at all. There are many advantages to baking tons of cookies when you’re a gazillion months pregnant.
1. Nurses. Very important. Don’t make them angry, give them cookies. Works, I know it.
2. If you’re out of luck, they won’t let you eat when you’re in labor. Nice thing about cookies: your husband can have them in his pocket and feed them to you when no-one is looking.
3. Sense of achievement vs. time-spent-on-hurting-feet. Excellent ratio.
4. You deserve cookies for dragging that belly around.
5. They’re small portions, and small portions is all that one can eat with that much baby pressing up.
One of the staples of my diet at that point were oatmeal-craisin-chocolate-walnut cookies. They saved my life during labor, I swear. And the nurses liked ’em.
Now go and bake more cookies! They’re good for you.
I grew up eating these cookies and had lost my mother’s recipe. I just took the cookie out of the oven and they are perfection. Just as you said, the edges are crispy and the centers are chewy. Thanks for the memories.
Last time I had a snickerdoodle I bought it from Starbucks and it was *yuck*. Too big and bland. Now, I can make my own! Thanks.
The last time I made snickerdoodles was too long ago by a long shot. I enriched the cinnamon sugar flavor by augmenting your typical vanilla with a splash of Goldschlager and a bit of cachaca. Sounded odd even at the time but the cookies had such a beautiful depth of flavor and my god they were so chewy and good and whenever I think of them I wonder why I haven’t made them again yet.
I’m a nurse, stop worrying, we love all gifts (even lame ones like boxed chocolates) because we LOVE when people recognize we are not servants!
I would be all over both your bribery options. Also, fruit works. My mom took peaches to the nurses when my niece was born and became a mini celebrity. She wasn’t even the patient.
I provide excellent care. I really love a baked good to go with it!
I LOVE snickerdoodles! I held out a whole 4 hours after reading your post before deciding that these cookies really should have been made, oh, about 4 hours ago…
The dough is currently chilling and I’m SO looking forward to cookies in a couple of hours!
o my word – they are so good, hubby could not wait for them to cool down and the my girls just loved them – thank you so much, this is a keeper
I have two recipes for Snickerdoodles…both duds…so I’ve printed this one off and will be making them soon…my grandma used to make them and I loved them! But she took her recipe with her to that big kitchen in the sky. You MUST be waddling by now…hopefully you don’t have swollen ankles and can get SOME sleep at night…can’t wait to hear what IT is!! Best of wishes! Nan
SO good. I’ve been wanting to make cookies for weeks, but have been feeling rather uninspired…these were absolutely worth the wait. I made the first batch to the recipe, and then threw some chocolate chips in with the last batch (not that they needed it). Absolutely heavenly. Thanks so much for sharing :)
Disaster!
Tried to make these on Friday to bring to a family gathering. Now I am stuck with a huge container full of tasty but not presentable pieces of baked goods, thin, randomly shaped, broken, in a word – not pretty at all.
The dough looked right when I mixed and shaped it. But after a few minutes in the oven, the little balls all spread out in one unseemly sheet that bubbled over the edge of the cookie sheet and dripped on the oven floor. The smoke filled the kitchen and I had to take them out and scrape the burnt pieces, because the alarms in our apartment are extremely sensitive and I wanted to avoid all the noise. Then I put them back in. But of course they completely deflated in the mean time. The final result was one sheet of randomly puffed out and flattened dough. I took it off and cut into rhombi but that did not turn them into anything presentable. The taste is fine though. Moreover, they taste good enough for me to try making them again.
What went wrong?
My own guesses:
1. Even though the dough was easy to shape, maybe I should have put them in the fridge for a spell after shaping, to stop them from melting completely in the oven.
2. I did not have the parchment paper, so I just buttered and floured the cookie sheets. Maybe the extra butter caused them to slide out of shape more easily.
Any input, advice would be welcome.
Thank you!
Deb, you are due any day now. Wish you easy labor and delivery! Hope everything will be fine.
Now that you have Snickerdoodles under your belt, you are fully equipped for parenthood. They are one of those cookies that every kid seems to love and teachers love them for birthday treat days at school b/c they’re not as messy! These wonderful and just seeing your pictures makes me want to make a couple of batches.
I think its fun that so many people from across the world read you too, Deb. I would love to know what some of their favorite cookie recipes are!
This looks exactly like my recipe for snickerdoodles except I add 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg to the dough which really puts it over the top!
Thank you for posting the yummy snicker doodles recipe. I just discovered your site and I love your blog. Congrats on your pregnancy and can’t wait to see pictures of the babies.
BTW, there is nothing wrong with making bribery baked goods instead of making emergency meals. I would have done the same thing.
oh man, I don’t even need to TRY these … you convinced me with your description alone!!!
Tanya- I would suggest checking the temperature of your oven too. If it’s running hot or cool compared to the setting, it can do really wonky things to your baked goods.
4 days and no more baking, does this mean there is a new baby? congratulations! does she/he like the cookies…?
MMMM…. made these last night and they were the best snickerdoodles I’ve ever had! YAY! Thanks for the recipe!
anyone will tell you i am the biggest chocoholic around, but for some reason, snickerdoodles are my weakness! they are so simple, i usually have the ingredients around for the recipe that i use, and anyone who tries them loves them too! perfect for last minute bbq’s which is why i tried them in the first place :)
I’m a new fan to your website and I have to say AMAZING! I’ve told every friend and family member about you and they’re all, dare I say, smitten…Anyways, Do you or anyone have a suggestion as to how to bake these cookies with a hand mixer and its regular blades? You call for an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, but until I can afford one of those babies, I’m stuck with the college alternative. Does the attachment really make a difference?
I wish you the best of luck with your delivery! We’ll all want to know your happy baked goods filled endeavors in the delivery room :-)
I absolutely LOVE that you are using goodies to bribe the nursing staff – genius I say! All of your recipes are so fantastic – I’ve tried many now. Thanks for such a great blog. You’ll have to let us know how the bribery works. I’m expecting my first in April and I think I’ll take a page from your notebook and your recipe book and do the same :) Best of luck in your final days of pregnancy!
baking for labor and delivery nurses – what a great idea! They’ll stick to your birth plan (with the baby’s cooperation) for sure.
@Jaime, I did it all by hand with a wooden spoon and they came out delicious, so I wouldn’t worry too much.
Jamie –
I would think that you could cream the butter and sugar together, and then incorporate the eggs, with a hand mixer in a deep bowl. I do NOT think you’d be able to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Your hand mixer might struggle with that. Do it by hand. Elbow grease works wonders! The stand mixer DOES make a huge difference, I won’t lie, but we all spent some of our baking lives without one. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
Um, I made these this morning because my boyfriend – 2000 miles away – saw the picture and started pounding his knife and fork on the cybertable yelling MAKE THEM MAKE THEM MAKE THEM.
So now I have to keep them from being eaten (ahem) until I can mail them on Monday. DAMN YOU CRISPY EDGE-SOFT MIDDLE CINNAMONY GOODNESS. Thanks (no, really!) for this stellar recipe!
With all the snickerdoodle recipes I’ve accumulated, I’m gonna try this one first. :) Looks awesome as always.
can’t wait to try these… btw would love your take on mixing bread flour with all-purpose or cake flour in order to achieve optimum chewiness.
Deb – I have a feeling that you will have delivered by now, it’s a suspiciously long time since the last post!! Just wanted to say thank you for all you do, you’re wonderful…& Shana Tova. New Year, new lives. What a blessing. Love to you and yours and HAVE A BREAK & enjoy it x
haha i was thinking the same thing Rachel.
Dear Deb, Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. I have been baking cookies for 50 years and would love to know how you achieved all butter snickerdoodles without having the cookies spread. I see it is against your comment policy to share brand names. But could you describe the butter and flour you used? I found for consistent results I have to use the most expensive brand of butter. Good luck with the new baby. I envy you the moment you get to watch the pleasure on your baby’s face when he/she eats his/her first cookie.
Very ironic – I hadn’t checked your blog for a few days and I made snickerdoodles today and lo and behold I look today and so did you. These are my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE cookie. My Mom always made these growing up as they were my Dad’s favorite. I don’t know how these are my favorite as they did not have one bit of chocolate in them but somehow they are. They are very simple recipe, but it is amazing how those fairly simple ingredients produce a totally outrageous cookie!
These cookies are a total blast from the past. I don’t usually bake (suck at it), but might have to get into meticulous neurotic baking mode for this. I also never grew up with snickerdoodles and tried one in my early 20s. Blown away. Always thought there was peanut butter in them.. but I guess not.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!
I’m not so sure about the amount of cinnamon in the sugar mixture you roll them in. The 2 TBSP makes for a VERY cinnamony mixture! My first cookies came out looking burnt, so I added a TBSP or 2 of sugar into it and the rest looked much better. Just a word of warning!
Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies! And I’m pretty sure the hospital staff will be MORE than impressed!
Oh what a deprived childhood I had! I had a Civics teacher in High School who said He would give us an automatic A if we brought him some snickerdoodles. Someone told me they were cookies. That night I went to the grocery store and read every cookie package up and down the aisle. Sadly, Keebler did not make them and that was the extent of my cookie knowledge. Growing up I hated cookies because all we ever had was store bought. Now that I’m a Mom I bake constantly! My kids actually beg me to get store bought baked goods since it’s different from what they always have! Thank you for all the wonderful inspiration. You bring me and my family much joy! I’m praying all is well with you, Alex and the Baby. Can’t wait for the next post!!!
For all those Aussies who haven’t heard of them, check out the Bake recipe book by the Australian Women’s Weekly- there is a recipe in there for them and they are DELICIOUS.
hooray! We bake these every year for Christmas and am excited to try a new recipe!
Mmm, these were deliciously cinnamon-y! As way of warning, though, mine baked in only 6 minutes. I took the first batch out in 8 minutes, and whoops — dark brown and far crispier than a snickerdoodle should be. My husband and I were forced to gobble them up before anyone else saw. :) I’d suggest checking the cookies periodically, at least for the first batch.
Congratulations on the baby Deb! I just had my baby three weeks ago and these snickerdoodles were the first thing I’ve baked since the chaos began. Sleep deprivation is a nasty thing; I had to start over three times because I kept putting in the wrong amount of sugar. But they were worth redoing — perfectly lovely texture and flavor. Thanks!
Good luck keeping up the blog!
Yay!!! Congratulations to you!
Mine went flat and hard. Is there anyone else at high altitude (Denver) with successful modifications? They tasted awesome, just hard and flat.
Woah man. Snickerdoodles are my dad’s favorite and I try and try to get them but never have I succeeded until today. Thanks Deb! Congrats on the baby, he’s beautiful!
I always make cookies for all my family to have over Christmas (we make home made chutney, jam, tree decorations, cookies & sweets into a little home-made bag for all cousins/aunts etc) and i think this might be the recipe for this year (along with chocolate dipped shortbread).
Thank you!
This Snickerdoodle recipe is essentially the same one printed in the red and white Betty Crocker cookbook in the mid-50’s except the amount of cinnamon has been increased. These are delicious–my kids are grown now but Snickerdoodles were among their favorites.
I recently had some very good snickerdoodles at Noodles and Company but they seemed to have bit of candy in them. I promptly came home and looked at snickerdoodles online and had to run to the store to pick up heath bits! A bag of those mixed into the dough makes for pure heaven!
These were sooooo good! I used all butter and didn’t have a problem with them spreading too much…actually they were quite a bit ‘plumpier’ than the ones in the pic above. I also used all brown sugar since it was all I had on hand…and they were OH SO GOOD :)
i made these – very good.
i’m sure to make them again.
My daughter and I just finished making these about 30 minutes ago. We’ve already polished off 10 cookies!!!! These are WONDERFUL!!!
I’ve attempted Snickerdoodles before but HATED the dough- it was SO sticky but the recipe did not say to refrigerate. I swore I’d never make them again. Then I read your recipe and saw that you said to refrigerate them!! YAY! I did just that and they are PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you!
His,
Mrs. U
Just pulled the first batch out of the oven and couldn’t get one into my mouth fast enough! Totally yummy. I only had 1/2 tbsp of cinammon and they still have plenty of cinammony taste. I also used a ginormous ice cream scoop and my batch made 17. I put the dough in the fridge but my batter was stiff enough (butter wasn’t thoroughly softened) that I probably could have baked them right away. Thanks for the great recipe and all the best to you and your little one.
These look great… I tried the recipe today, and while the first batch of cookies came out very hard, I left the second batch in the oven for less time, about 7 minutes, and they came out perfectly. I was waiting for the first batch of cookies to crack, but they never did. I think that’s why they hardened, because I left them in for about 11 minutes total, waiting for them to crack. But again, after I left the others in for only about 7-8 minutes, they came out perfect. Thanks for the recipe! (Your cinnamon swirl hair baby is a-dor-a-ble.)
I made these the other night after a long day at work. Accidentally put ALL the dry ingredients in one bowl – including the cinnamon. Had to scoop out the sugar, which I was short 1/4 cup of, and I subbed a 1/4 c brown sugar. Left the cinnamon in the flour because it was too hard to scoop out. The result actually wasn’t wretched. Probably slightly more moist from the brown sugar and definitely spicier, but delicious nonetheless.
These are amaaazing. My new favorite cookie! Thank you for posting this simple, delicious, beautiful recipe – it is goodness and delight embodied. :)
Agreed with Mysa that waiting for them to crack will leave them a bit hard — I went almost to 15 minutes waiting for the crack, and ended up with the first batch being a little harder than I’d like. The second batch, where I followed the time instructions instead (5 min on each rack), were fabulous.
Hi Deb,
First off, congratulations on the birth of your spankin’ new beautiful baby!!
I am in love with the image of the top of his swirly head!
Secondly, I just made the snickerdoodles and must say that they are delicious!
I wish I had added a touch more cinnamon. Thanks for the nudge to try this recipe.
These were FANTASTIC. Best Snickerdoodles I’ve ever had. I plan to experiment with my next batch and add a bit of nutmeg, and then whip up some pumpkin filling to make sandwiches!
I think Snickerdoodles are one of my new favorite kinds of cookies. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Looks delicious!
These is a great recipe, thanks!!
I actually write a daily blog called Snickerdoodles, because life should be sweet and simple like a Snickerdoodle cookie! I have a Snickerdoodle cupcake recipe posted under the Food & Drink category that is divine!
Happy Baby…you are not good birth control right now with all the precious shots. I really don’t need a fourth boy so please stop with all the cuteness! lol
I actually stopped by today to see if you had a good recipe for canning pears so I’d better get back to work.
I made these a couple of hours ago and I’ve eaten at least 5 so far. All in all, they were perfect! Oh, and I love the name you chose for you son and he is bloody adorable!
Reporting back to say that I made these over the weekend and they were a giant hit. I made them along with a double batch of David Leite’s crazy-famous internet cookie, for a big group of friends. I thought I had made too many but later people were saying I didin’t make enough and that if I had stayed up all night baking (I made a double batch of the dough 2 days prior to baking, and brought it with me to the vacation rental) that it wouldn’t have been enough. The cookies are indeed cakey on the inside, and I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe.
So:
1. The dough is really great when chilled. I wouldn’t skip that step.
2. The dough can also be frozen, and the recipe is easily doubled, though think twice, because that will be a LOT of cookie dough.
3. The cookies are excellent warm or cooled. I think the crunch of the outside of thecooled cookie the best, but people clamored for them straight out of the oven.
Thanks, Deb.
argh, that posted before i finished. i meant to confirm Deb’s comment that the dough is super sticky and wet without chilling. sorry about the typos.
Great high altitude recipe!!! No modifications at all!! (Denver, CO 5280 ft)
Wow! People absolutely loved these. I didn’t grow up with Snickerdoodles, but figured I’d like these. I made them without any modifications, and they turned out great. Perfect amount of cinnamon — some spice without being overwhelming.
Just a couple of the cookies spread, but I figure it’s my oven, or I overhandled those before rolling them in the cinnamon/sugar.
I brought them to work to celebrate a birthday, and the guy who “doesn’t like sweets” ate about 10 (and admitted he couldn’t believe he liked them so much).
Thanks, Deb!
I made these with 1/4 cup of apple sauce in place of each egg, for no other reason than I had no eggs and I was too lazy to drive to the store. ANYWAY they were SOO good with the little hint of apple. I have made them twice since. Thanks for this crowd-pleasing cookie recipe ;)
Also, I am totally impressed with your ability to cook and work so soon after giving birth. I had my first 6 months ago and only got back to work last month!!
I’ve been looking for an excuse to make these. Our dog was skunked last night (oh joy!) and I thought the cinnamon would help to rid the house of the lovely burnt rubber smell. I think it’s working. My kids said that these are the best cookies in the world. Thanks!
First, congrats on the addition to your family. He’s absolutely gorgeous :)
I made these cookies just the other night when I was desperately in need of a snickerdoodle..it happens, right? I also fell in love with the snickerdoodle when I discovered it at the coffee shop I worked in while in college.
I have to agree with you, chilling the dough would have made the job much easier, but despite that missing tip, I still love my Martha Stewart cookie book.
Hi Deb! I made these (and some muddy buddies!) for the last day of my exotic animal rotation on Friday… I figured they’d work as bribery during the presentation I had to give.
It turns out that vets looooove cookies. Yes!
I made these last night and ate 8 of them before the night was through. Wow, so good.
Thanks! And congrats on your gorgeous baby boy.
My mom isn’t a big fan of American cookies because she thinks they’re too rich, but she really enjoyed these. I also love the sheer volume of cookies that I got out of this recipe. All the more joy to share, right?
Just made these, they are really good. Just wanted to add a note that I didn’t have any cream of tartar and instead used the juice of one lemon and added it with the egg to the butter/sugar mixture – and they were perfect!
I made this recipe twice this weekend. Yes, they’re that good! The first time, I misread and accidentally put the entire amount of sugar (1.75 cups) in with the butter. I really couldn’t tell which batch was sweeter (after all, they were all rolled in sugar). :)
I was pressed for time during the first batch and did not refrigerate the dough. Other than my hands getting sticky, there was no inconvenience to skipping this step. I had a hard time making perfectly round balls, but discovered that even if they looked misshapen before baking, they looked perfectly round afterward.The first batch yielded 36 cookies and the second 35. I used an ice cream scoop to scoop up the dough, but then used my hand to take it out of the scoop and roll it (not as scientific as Martha). I also used my convection oven setting for these and cooked them on 375 for 6 mins. PERFECT. They were such a hit. Thanks for the great recipe post!
just like rosie in your first comment i live in snickerdoodle-less australia. ive never really minded either, till i saw your photos! thats so cool how you coat them beforehand, they turn out so pretty! Oh and thankyou for letting us know you can use butter instead of shortening, ive always avoided recipes that have shortening cause i didnt know what it was, now i can bake without being scared, thanks!
Beautiful boy! Congratulations.
These are, hands down, the best Snickerdoodles on the planet. They’re delicate and flavorful and delicious when dunked in tea. I just made some for people filling in for me while I’m on vacation – when I get to my destination I’m making more to bring along as ‘so glad to see you’ gifts for people I’m visiting. SO good. Thanks Deb!
I made these tonight and they are delicious! I have to admit that I did add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Ten minutes were too long to bake them, but it may have been my oven. I used an ungreased cookie sheet and no parchment paper as I was out. My husband went nuts over them, and I’m thinking another batch will be in order for the week-end.
Made these with my 4-yr-old – he wanted to say “I Love You” to his favorite daycare caregiver. They were fabulous – buttery, cinnamony, crackly, chewy. She shared them with the rest of the staff and I got several requests for the recipe the next day, 3 of which were from people who claimed not to like Snickerdoodles (how could you not like Snickerdoodles?) Thanks for the keeper recipe. Congrats on the gorgeous little one – you’ll have lots of fun making “I Love You” cookies with him, I’m sure.
I remember being so disappointed to find out that a snickerdoodle was nothing like a Snickers bar, which was what I’d assumed they’d been named for. I’ve let go of it though, and learned to love them in their own right.
Last time I made a batch I replaced the granulated sugar in the coating with some pourable brown sugar. Pretty dang good.
I made these last night to bribe my writing students to continue to come to class now that it is darker and colder, and everyone just wants to hibernate. I have a friend who always raved about Snickerdoodles, but I never quite got it. Well, now I do. I’m not a fan of cinnamon toast, but these are GOOD. I was in a rush, and with no cream of tarter, made these anyway with 3 t. of baking powder. Will put the cream of tarter on the shopping list, but they tasted great to me! All the other teachers at work are chomping on them today too! THANK YOU!!
I’m stumped. I made these at home (elevation about 500 feet) and they were cakey, moist and delicious, only turning slightly crisp after a few days in the cookie jar. I made them while on vacation (elevation 4500) and they were crisp right after they cooled. Funny thing was, I loved the cakey version so much better than my mom’s crispy iteration – but the recipe is almost exactly the same as hers, the only difference is more cinnamon in the rolling mixture.
I can’t think of another reason, aside from elevation, that could have made the difference between the two batches. Anyone have other ideas? Any way to moisten them back up at high elevation?
I used a size 20 scoop and got exactly one and a half dozen cookies. They are perfectly wonderful. Thank you!
These were fabulous. The REAL snickerdoodle (cream of tartar!) Since my oven has a tendency to do strange things, I substituted 1/2 of the butter for shortening so they would not flatten out. They still had a nice, buttery taste, but also came out with a perfect consistency – about a 1/2 inch thick, crunchy on the outside, melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. Wonderful recipe. (Also, I did not refrigerate – just use a teaspoon to gather your dough, quickly form the ball in your hand, roll in sugar/cinnamon.) Perfect.
these really are perfect snickerdoodles! and they turned out perfectly despite our horrible college ovens. thanks! and for those of you who only have baking soda and baking powder, i did the math to get approx. the same amount of cream of tarter and baking soda. so you need 2 2/3 tsps of baking powder and 1/3 tsp of baking soda.
thanks for the recipe!
Do you think these would freeze okay for a week or two? I’m planning to do cookie plates as holiday gifts and am trying to spread out my baking some so that I don’t end up totally stressed out next weekend. Thanks!
I was wondering if maybe anyone knows how to make these snickerdooldes in higher elevation.. I live in 4000 ft above and when i make these they go paper thin flat. When we lived in florida they were perfect and a bit puffy like they should be and the elvation there was like 5 ft maybe. We are military so moving around alot is a pian when you love to bake. Plz help..anyone.
These taste great but they flattened out to be more like snickerdoodle chips :P The texture was there, but it was so thin that there just wasn’t much of it. I think I will try chilling them more before baking to see if that helps.. if not, well, I guess holiday snickerdoodle chips are on the list for my gifts :)
I finally, finally wrote a post on the Tips blog about why cookies spread, and how to prevent it. Hope that helps next time! [Link: Why Did My Cookies Spread?]
Deb, these snickerdoodles are amazing! I’ve never used cream of tartar in baking before (what rock have I been living under?), but they turned out perfectly. Nice and cakey on the inside with a slight crunchiness to the edges. Delightful!
I didn’t bother with refrigerating the dough before I shaped them into balls. I didn’t find the dough too sticky or soft to do this right away. I also don’t have a smallish ice cream scoop so I just rolled them in my hands. They turned out perfectly!
Jennifer, I live at 3500ft above sea level and had no trouble with the recipe as it is. They didn’t turn out flat for me. I know with angel food cake that I have to add a tablespoon of extra flour, so maybe try adding an extra tbsp or two of flour to the batter?
i will to pass this recipe down to my unborn children. it is that good.
I made these and loved them – my only suggestion would be to just sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the cookie dough balls before baking, rather than rolling the whole ball in the mixture. I rolled and the cinnamon browned/burned on the bottom of some. Otherwise, perfect! Thank you
I just *FINALLY* got around to making these! I’ve had them bookmarked since you posted them. They are so delicious! I’ve never made (or even had, that I can think of) Snickerdoodles before – what a treat. And I’m sure my neighbors will be thanking you in about an hour. ;)
(PS – My husband was sitting in the kitchen with me last night watching me make the dough, and when I stuck it in the fridge to chill overnight, he said, “That’s it? Those are just sugar cookies.”
And then he tasted one this morning after I baked them. And he simply said, “These are NOT *just* sugar cookies.” :D
Another great recipe. Just made these and after being unhappy with a few sugar cookie recipes this season, I’ve decided to give it up. Snickerdoodles are so much tastier!
And I just have to say that it is amazing that you have 289 comments on your blog on something so basic and unassuming as a cookie. When you turn your blog into a book, I will be the first in line to buy it for myself…and probably a few more for gifts.
I just pulled the first batch of these cookies out of the oven! They are SO good! So fluffy and sweet! Thanks so much…great recipe!
Ok, I’m a huge fan of this recipe in fact I’ve made these three times. But, last night they came out hard as rocks. I also used a fresh box of baking soda which puzzled me. The only difference this time around from the others is that I used different butter- do you think that could have impacted them to turn out hard?
I made these yesterday for some friends and they turned out delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
i just made these today
SO GOOD! (: thank you
I made these amazingly perfect snickerdoodles on Saturday night, came home Sunday night to discover that my husband had eaten about 20 of them in less than 24 hours!! They really are the perfect texture and a great balance of cinnamon and sugar. With 2 sticks of butter, they have to be good!
These tasted quite good and like another reader my turned into snickerdoodle chips even though I had refrigerated the dough for an hour and my cookie sheets were cool to start. I’m thinking the culprit was the butter. I don’t have a mixer that creams butter and sugar well so I usually do it with a fork but I don’t know how I could have gotten too much air into it. Any suggestions?
These were an unfortunate disaster for me. I was using an oven other than my own which apparently runs hot, so they were burned to a crisp. I managed to salvage the last dozen by turning it down about 50 degrees. They were pretty good – I look forward to trying it again in my own oven! :)
I don’t know what the snickerdoodle cookies are, but I will most definitely try.
I have been fallowing this blog for the last few weeks, because I just recently discovered it. I must say, after reading many different blogs, this one is the friendliest, the warmest, the nicest with the best recipes blog ever! I am reading the comments and my heart fills with warmth, I identify to so many nice ladies, I feel as if they are one one my friends, too. And whatever I make from Deb’s recipes, everything comes out perfectly! This never happened to me, and that is why I do not read cook books, even though, I own a lot of them, because whatever I make from cookbooks, it gets screwed up somehow…..I will stick to Deb’s recipes and I will be fine!
Hi, Deb. I have been a silent devotee for quite some time. Meaning, I talk about how much I like your blog all the time (whether I think the listener is interested or not), but I have never told you or commented on any of the many great recipes that I have executed with your help. Thanks! Anyway, I have a question about the snickerdoodles. I need to make cookies a week in advance of when they will be eaten because of travel/time conflicts. Do you think that these will freeze well? If not, do you have any other suggestion?
Hi Jennifer — I’m so glad you’re enjoying the site. And good question. I have not made these and baked them in advance, but I see no reason such a butter-laden delight wouldn’t freeze well for a week or two, well-wrapped. Enjoy them. And report back if you get a chance, thanks.
This recipe is absolutely amazing. It is my favorite thing to bake ever. I’ve made at least, like, 10 batches of this in the last 2 months alone and it NEVER FAILS. I just can’t get over how perfect these are!
Deb, maybe I’m using the wrong recipe, but I have made these before with the recipe from “The Joy of Cooking” and followed it to a ‘T’. My mom has also made them using the same recipe and had no problem – I on the other hand made them and they ended up staying in ball shape – they didn’t melt out int he least bit and they were like eating hard doughnut holes. Do you have any idea as to what I may have done wrong? I can’t figure it out. I haven’t braved attempting them again which is sad becuase I love snickerdoodles.
For the last week of my pregnancy I was so stir crazy. The day I went into labor with I baked hamentaschen, but I forgot to put sugar in the dough. That’s how I knew it was time.
Thank you for this recipe. I made it this past week and my husband said they were great. That is great praise…he doesn’t usually like cookies. I took the rest to work and again, great praise! Thank you for making me look good! I baked the cookies exactly like you wrote and mine were textbook perfect.
I have never had snickerdoodles before, but I just tried these; ridiculousness easy and delish! Refrigerating them for 10-15 min beforehand isn’t necessary, but it does help out. I didn’t use parchment or a icecream scooper, and these turned out fabulous! My only advice is to keep an eye on them; without the parchment (and an exact measurement), they brown very quickly (and they taste better un-browned!). Thank you, thank you, thank you for my new favorite cookie recipe!
What a wonderful site to happen upon,I have been making snickerdoodles sence 1952.
got the recipe from a Portland Oregon news paper. I roll a ball the size of a walnut, no scoop. I always push a half of a walnut in the middle of each cookie. I don’t remember if it was my idea or not but My family loves them that way.
I’ve been following your website for about half a year now, but I’m a first time commenter. Besides the few perfect recipes I’ve tried of yours, I have a whole folder on my bookmarks of at least two dozen recipes I’m dying to try! Unfortunately being a college student in a dorm doesn’t allow for much opportunity. :( Also, everyone it seems in college prefers cheap, not very good tasting, overly-sweetened treats. Case A, me buying a snickerdoodle cookie today on campus that is suppose to be very good. However, as you can guess, very very not good. And the whole time I was eating it, pretending to like it because I don’t want to look like a food snob, I kept thinking back to this recipe and your site. I just kept thinking, “no, no if only they had standards and tastes like that wonderful blog Smitten Kitchen…” Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for the inspiration and lovely food that makes me want to bake and cook instead of going to class!
These cookies were amazing, Deb!!! Everyone loved them, and they were squishy/chewy and stayed that way, for once! All the cookies I try (including your chewy choco chip ones, which I overbaked – sorry!) always turn out too hard.
The only thing was, I kept on tasting a teensy bit of sourness in the cookie. Do you have any idea why?
I always come to your site first for recipes and sure enough you had snickerdoodles, and not only that but they actually look like the ones i too fell in love with when i worked a coffee shop <3 I baking them now and my kitchen smells SOOOO good, thank you for making me truly smitten with your kitchen.
~ Spencer
My husband is a cookie monster. And I wish I was kidding. Doesn’t matter the cookie. He will eat them all and he loves them all. I was looking for something quick and easy and have referenced SK recipes before as new “go-to”s… This snickerdoodles recipe is a MUST GO TO!!! I got about 2.5 dozen cookies out of the batch. My lovely husband ate enough dough to account for the other half dozen that I was supposed to yield, but it we had fun, so it was justifiable. The cookies turned out perfect!! Just the right about of crunch around the edges and perfect cake-y soft middles. They are not going to last long!!! I also made some super teeny cookies just to finish the last bits from the bowl that wouldn’t quite make a full tray. Still used the same amount of time and they turned out great, too! (and they were super cute bc they were about the size of a half-dollar!) Thanks for a great recipe! Can’t wait to hit the “surprise me!” button for another favorite!!! :)
-L
I’ve come to the conclusion that I love Snickerdoodles — but only conceptually. They smell terrific baking, they look so very pretty on the cooling rack, they make you feel cozy and homey and loved. Here’s the problem: I don’t HAVE to eat them like I do other cookies I make. I had to make a big batch of cookies for a bunch of post-practice cheerleaders (don’t mock. Teenagers become crazed when the slightest bit hungry; they’re like toddlers in that regard) and wanted to try these. All of the girls raved! I doubled the recipe to yield 52 nice, large cookies (used my ice cream scoop after chilling the dough and it couldn’t be easier) and added a tsp or so of vanilla. I kept maybe a dozen or so leftovers and my family is eating them, but more slowly than other cookies I’ve made from this site. They do keep well and have stayed nice and soft, but… I think we’re just not Snickerdoodlists.
BEST SNICKERDOODLES EVER!!!!!!(:
I have been following your blog for a while now, and I must say, it has become my go-to site when I want a recipe. I’ve never been disappointed with anything I’ve made from here!
So here’s my question: I only have one sheet pan. Should I go ahead and just bake these cookies on the center rack, or does rotating them between the top third and bottom third of the oven do something in the baking process? (Or is it simply to save time to bake two batches of deliciousness at once…)
Thanks in advance!
OH! Also, how important is it to sift the dry ingredients together? Could I get away with just whisking them?
Just rotate it on the middle rack. You can probably get away with whisking; I often do in a pinch. Sifting just ensures that the cookies will be slightly lighter and more delicate.
I don’t imagine I’ve ever viewed a new blog site on this lots of commentary on it!
These are completely good. And now I will make your sweet-potato-lentil curry. Sigh…late autumn coziness.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! This is one of the first cookies I made by myself when I got the Betty Crocker Jr. Cookbook when I was 10 years old, and I had forgotten how delicious they are! I also love that the ingredients are all things that I always have on hand, so I can make these whenever I need to.
I love snickerdoodles, but the recipe I remember using had milk in it as well. Am still looking for the old fashioned recipe. Anyone have one with milk in it?
Hi! I just came back home to Florida after a visit with family in Virginia. My mom and I love you blog and she made these cookies this weekend. After a taste.. or 8, I was hooked. Came right home and made a batch for my hubby. He’s in love.. with the doodles ;o) Happy Holidays!
Snickerdoodles stand as my favorite cookie in my me memory.
I made these though, and they were just really disappointing. I don’t blame the recipe! It could have been any number of things on my end. I didn’t have an electric mixer so I creamed the butter and sugar by hand with a fork. I didn’t sift the dry ingredients. I didn’t measure all that precisely. I didn’t use an ice cream scoop.
The cookies came out hard, tough and crumbly. Also there was just something missing in their flavor. Maybe vanilla. Anyways, I’m moving on to your white chocolate oatmeal cookies this weekend. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
I’ve made snickerdoodles before and must admit this is the best recipe so far! Love the way they turned out even when I used earthbalance instead of butter and egg substitute instead of real eggs. YUMMTASTIC!! Thank you!
This recipe was a dud for me :( I’m not sure what happened, as I followed the recipe to a T… I think. They didn’t rise and were chewy and greasy. I tried these this year instead of Nigella’s, because hers don’t flatten. They are more like Munchkins… very good but not really a cookie. These flattened wayyyy too much for the most part, and even the ones that weren’t flat were just inedible. First batch of cookies I’ve ever thrown away. Ah well, back to the drawing board.
Oh Deb….just made these for a holiday gathering and they are unbelievable. Chocolate chip who? Snickerdoodle is thy name! Amazing.
I added a dash of vanilla as well.
Thanks for the amazing recipes and posts!! Happy holidays!!!
I will be making these with my 8 year old son – his choice for a Valentine’s Day cookie exchange – sounds yummy
These are still my 19 year old son’s favorite. We made them weekly when he was little. Our $25 a week food budget didn’t include snacks or store bought cookies, but made with shortening Snickerdoodles were very inexpensive.
Have any high elevation tips? Every time I try to make snickerdoodles (at 5,300 ft.). they just don’t turn out soft and delicious as I know they can be. This recipe works splendidly at sea level though. Mmm.
Thanks for the recipe! they turned out great!
Deb,
I have been reading your blog for a few weeks now and I am hooked! Every recipe I have tried has been fantastic. I just made these cookies yesterday. My boyfriend always convinced me to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies so I had never tried snickerdoodles. While he was at work, I made them. He has now declared them his new favorite. He keeps asking “Are they really going to stay this soft?!” Thanks for sharing your recipes. It’s the highlight of my day.
I just made two batches of these cookies! I made one with huge 5 inch cookies and the other with small 2 inch cookies. This is a great recipe, they taste so buttery and are soft.
Thanks for posting this!
Deese
I hav bn reading this site ALL evening!not kidding,it’s such an exciting blog/site whatever u call it,it’s just so inspiring hey.being from Australia I didn’t hav a CLUE wat these snickerdoodles were,then I came across a recipe in an AWW cook book,and th second Batch I made was horrible,so big and round and HARD.then my friend told me all about yr website and I’m hooked!!I made ye zucchini and almonds side dish,but changed th almonds for sesame seeds,cos I had no almonds in th house.pretty yummy!anyway,getting a bit carried away here!I just want to say I just made these cookies and they were AMAZINGG!!I couldnt get my husband to shutup with his groans in extatic delight!!!he scoffed down easily 4straight up,so u kno they’re pretty awesome!
Made these last night with a baking powder and baking soda substitution, and I can now second other commenters’ attestations that the cream of tartar is necessary. They came out with a fantastic buttery, cinnamony flavor, but the texture is off — they’re thick and dry, not soft and cakey. I will know better next time. Thanks for a great recipe, Deb.
I just baked these and I’m so impressed with myself. I don’t want to eat them, they look so good :) I am (very reluctantly)taking these to a squash tournament my husband is playing in. Will let you know what the reviews from the guys were.
I made these cookies with my nearly 3 year old son today. They came out great and were a breeze to make even with a toddler. He had some much fun rolling the balls in the cinnamon sugar that it was actually a help. I doubled the recipe and didn’t chill the dough because it was ready to go without chilling. I don’t know the # on my scoop but I didn’t use my hugest cookie scooper. The cookies came out about 3 in across. I accidentally used all the sugar in the dough, and they are a little sweet and were heading towards being a little too crunchy once cooled. They were great today, but I think that if I hadn’t shorted the cooking time by about a minute and half after the turn they will be crunchy tomorrow. Also- I just forgot to set the oven racks so that I could bake 2 sheets at a time so I did one sheet at a time and still turned it half way through. My guess is that between cooking 1 sheet at a time, using a bit too much sugar in the dough, using a mid size scoop, and not chilling the dough I could have baked them even shorter time and had a more tender cookie. That said- these are great cookies and a sturdy recipe to take this much abuse and come out so tasty! Add to that yummy-ness that they are very doable even with a toddler and this is a winner!
Just made these and they came out great! And I live at 8,200 feet and the recipe was perfect, no altitude adjustments needed!
Just made these last night. Big, fat, deliciousness. Thank you.
Oh my goodness, I just made these and they are wonderful! Snickerdoodles, where have you been all my life?
It is probably a cardinal sin in the snickerdoodle world, but I also add some ground cloves to the cinnamon to roll them in.
Also, I find that they keep well for a week in a air tight container, if they start to loose their chewy texture toss a slice of bread in too and they absorb the moisture from it.
My dough was chilled for 3-4 hours and baked on cooled baking sheets. My cookies were sunk in the middle and didn’t rise to a nice height. Any reasons for this?
I am usually an ‘all-butter’ girl, but for me, these are better made with half butter, half Crisco shortening. I made them both ways, using my old recipe, which was taken from a Pillsbury flour bag back in the 80’s (it is the identical recipe as the one listed here, only it called for 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening), and the ones made with shortening were lighter, had a crisper exterior and a softer interior. Just sayin’…
I love love love these cookies. This recipe has a permanent home on my fridge. :)
Wow. I’m usually more of a chocolate chip cookie person, but these are incredible! I’ve baked snickerdoodles before and have always been a little disappointed, especially with the texture (too crunchy). These look and taste like they’re from a bakery. This is my new go-to cookie recipe!
I made these twice. The first time with a standard unsalted butter, and the second time with a high quality european butter. Holy Moly Bajoly, it was like two different cookies. The ones made with European style butter (mine was from Ireland) were so much more buttery – they didn’t last long in our house. I chilled the dough for an hour, and it did make for easier rolling. Will be using this recipe from now on.
these are PERFECT!! Thank you! :) I am in love with your blog btw
I made them this week (because the season for strawberry summer cake is sadly over…) and they are just perfect. And since “snickerdoodles” sounds like something really funny (at least here in germany) they made everybody smile, twice – when hearing the name and then while tasting them…
I made these two weeks ago for the Tuba Section of my sons High School band. Twenty thumbs up from 10 tuba dudes!
Hi Katy — That makes me very happy.
Hi Deb! I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow is the due date of our first child & while I highly doubt she’ll actually arrive tomorrow I couldn’t help but remember you making these two years ago & I suddenly felt compelled to make them. They have been a favorite in our house for the past two years and now that the weather is finally cooling off in the east I can stand to use the oven again!
I had the opposite problem of many of you–my cookies didn’t want to spread AT ALL. Round one: I refrigerated the dough for 30 mins, rolled into balls, and baked. They came out the same shape they went in–tasty, but really not what I wanted. For round two, to encourage spreading, I rolled the balls but then let them come fully to room temp, and baked them at 350F instead of 400. They still didn’t flatten. I even baked them on a greased baking sheet! Finally I resorted to pressing them to flatten before they baked, but this doesn’t give the lovely crackled tops I wanted.
Basically at this point I just want to know–what on earth was up with these cookies?? Why wouldn’t they behave?
but i thought you need shortening
this. was. fantastic. now i’m packaging cookies for gifts so i don’t eat all of them myself :) mine came out pretty cake-like. i’m one of the few people who wish they did come out flat. i don’t own an electric hand mixer so i really put my strength into mixing that butter and sugar. i chilled the cookie dough overnight which may explain the thickness. tbh i don’t think you need to have so much sugar and cinnamon for rolling. it’s a shame to have to throw it away!
These are absolutely AMAZING! A friend of mine just made me a batch and I begged her for the recipe. Can’t wait to try it myself!
made these tonight for a cookie baking party & they were amazing! thanks!
Please…! Someone tell me how to get these to remain softer in the middle. After only a day, they’re crunchy(but still delicious!) through and through. I followed bake times precisely…what could it be??
In an airtight container at room temperature, they should get softer on the second day.
hi deb! love your blog! i’m having issues with the balls flattening out while cooking. they start to spread slightly and then stop half way. since this is a test batch for christmas, i’ve halved the recipe. do you think that is the problem? any suggestions? THANKS!
yep…pretty much the best snickerdoodles ever. we made one batch last night…ate them all in less than an hour (that happens when you have 3 sons, their friends, girlfriends, etc.) and turned around and made a second batch. this time, however, i ran out of sugar so i used 1c white sugar, 1/2 c brown sugar and they turned out just as beautifully. thanks, deb! :-)
I just wanted to say that this made amazing cookies that converted my chocolate loving soul into a melty puddle of happiness. I used 2 teaspoons of baking powder to replace the baking soda and cream of tartar (because you can’t find them in my part of the world) and they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.
Made these for a New Years treat. Added 1tsp cinn to batter and one package of Heath bar chips. Just a little something different! Still rolled in the sugar and I baked at 375 for 12 minutes.
Just made these, and they turned out great!! Delicious! I don’t mind that they aren’t puffy…I didn’t have any shortening, so I googled for a recipe and am glad I found this one. I also neglected to read directions & chill them first, and they still turned out well. Thank you.
Snickerdoodles are the best.
Even though I’m from NZ, they were a total staple cookie my Nana and Mum would bake. Maybe it’s cause my Nana travelled a lot, especially Europe. So Snickerdoodles have been consumed by my family ever since I can remember!
I’m famous in my family for being obsessed with Smitten Kitchen. In fact, I talk about it so much that after I served her your Challah, my grandmother decided to google it. She accidentally entered “Smitten Kitten” into the address bar. Needless to say, it was not a baking site. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for all of your amazing recipes and perfect instructions. I just surprised my boyfriend with these snickerdoodles and he said, “These are amazing. They’re even better than my mom’s. Don’t tell her I said that.” I bow down to you, Deb.
Ohmygoodness. I have never had a snickerdoodle cookie, but these. THESE. They turned out (for once!) exactly like the photos, only more plump (probably because I used half shortening, half butter). Crisp edges, soft, meltingly pillowy insides…..They match everything in the default description. (: THANK YOU.
Yum! I am baking these right now and have already eaten 3 or them…oops! I took the advice and added 1 tsp. of vanilla and baked them for 8 minutes and they are great!
My all time favorite cookie. I have always used my grandmas recipe which includes nutmeg with the cinnimon. I cant imagine snicker doodles with out nutmeg.
I’m going to try these. I really like the joy of cooking recipe too. Simple but perfect. These look quite similar!
Tasty cookies, BUT–I could taste the cream of tartar. Egad! Great texture, however.
Hi Deb, just a quick question: what rack are these suppose to be baked on? I am slightly confused by the two racks in the directions. Can’t wait to bake these!
There are oven racks — I mentioned a suggested positioning if your oven has two, so the heat can be evenly distributed — and then cooling racks for cookies. Hope that helps.
I should have been a little more specific (sorry)! My question actually pertains to the racks in the oven. Should I be cookingthe sheets of cookies on the rack placed at the top one third of the oven or the bottom one third or on the rack in between? I’m so sorry for this silly question! I hope its not to irritating! Thanks Deb.
Snickerdoodles are my son’s favorite cookies, so I’ve tried many recipes and I have to agree these are definitely the best in both taste and texture.
Tried this recipe out today! They are fantastic. Thanks for always having delicious recipes and amazing photos!
These were delicious! Thanks for another awesome recipe!
I made these for my first grader today as a welcome-home for his first day of school. We loved them, and it felt so… idyllic! Thank you-
This really is the best snickerdoodle recipe. They come out perfect every time. :)
I made these for the first time this past weekend for a party. I made around 36 of them and they were the hit of the party. People were complimenting left and right and I am just glad to have found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen:)
So, despite never having even tried these (another Australian here lol) I decided to give these a go, partly because my husband has decided to swear off chocolate (!!) so no choc chip cookies, and also because I love the name!!! :-P
After beginning, I realised I was a little short of flour (yep!) so substituted about 1/2 cup self raising flour instead.. Wasn’t too sure what to do about the baking soda so added it as mentioned in the recipe…
And they’re awesome!! Didn’t spread as much as I’d have liked them to, but I guess that was bound to happen with the flour issue, but got the cracks on top (on most of them) and my house smells like it’s Christmas :-) Thanks so much….
made these last night to eat throughout the impending hurricane here in nyc… both my husband and the neighbors kids are very happy!
Absolutely love this recipe. Works perfectly with no adjustments, and SO TASTY! It’s become my go-to recipe whenever I need to take treats to a group event. Thanks, Deb!
Your recipes are wonderful, but I’m afraid that with this one, I, like Sara, ended up with flat, greasy cookies. I hope that your book tour is going well. Thanks for the wonderful site!
The recipe calls for 2 3/4 c Sugar, but the directions only mention 1 3/4 c sugar. I’m assuming the Directions are wrong? although I really don’t want to add a whole cup of sugar if it’s not called for. Maybe this is why some had trouble? I’m about to make these… help?
nope. reader error. flour. good thing I realized before i made them! too bad I look like an idiot. hahahaha
Made these and wrapped the dough around rolos, hershey kisses (regular and peppermint). The peppermint ones are soooo good. Rolled the chocolate ones in chocolate jimmies and the peppermint ones in red and white peppermint sugar. Think these will be a Christmas staple from now on.
Brought these to work and everyone asked for the recipe! Ive tried the Martha version in the past and I much prefer your version with butter. Thanks so much!
I made these for Christmas. Cream of tartar isn’t available here so I substituted with lemon juice, they came out well and didn’t taste like ‘normal’ sugar cookies. Great recipe!
Just made these! Absolutely the best snickerdoodle recipe ever ! Can’t wait for my hubs to try !
Love snickerdoodles!! But what is the reason for having the trays on the upper and lower thirds of the oven? Why not just put them in the center like usual? Thanks!
The two heights are so you can fit two trays in, and rotate them. If you’re only baking one tray at a time, you can just put it in the middle. (My oven only has three levels; maybe others have more?)
Mmmm. These look soo good. I totally understand when you said that you tried snickerdoodles for the first time in college because in all my 18 years of life, I’ve actually never tried snickerdoodles… Shame, I know! I’ll have to fix this :)
Okay, I fixed my horrible “problem” of lack of snickerdoodle cookies in my life. I finally made them… and I LOVE them! Thank you so much for the recipe. Classic and comforting, yet satisfying and indulgent!
My cookies actually came out chewy instead of cakey (yet still soft on the inside, but crispy on the outside) – but that’s just the way I like mine!
Here were the results of your/Martha’s recipe!
http://thekitchenkook.blogspot.com/2013/01/classic-snickerdoodle-cookies.html
Do you have to use cream of tartar ? I don’t have any available
Have you ever made these with Vietnamese cinnamon? I just bought some, and I’m curious if I should reduce the amount of cinnamon in the sugar mixture or use it “full strength”.
Also, this recipe is fantastic – and a great one for baking with little ones!
Alissa — Yes! It is my favorite. I often use it in a 2/3 volume, as Penzey’s suggested when I bought it there.
These have been my go to cookies ever since i made them for them first time two years ago! May they never fail!
I just made these last night! They are delicious and I love your blog–it’s one of the first things I check online every morning! Thank you for such beautiful photos, writing, and recipes!
Oh dear… Mine were an unmitigated disaster (not to ne melodramatic or anything). They spread out super thin and arent cakey at all. and because they about quadrupled in size the surface area to cinnamon sugar ratio is all off. I read that spreading can happen if you use warm cookie trays, but mine were room temperature! It’s about 76 in my kitchen today… Is that warm enough to make them spread? Seems unlikely. Woe is me. *softly weeps*
Hi Laura — Sorry they were a mess. Spread can happen for a number of reasons, such as too much leavener or too much butter. A few other reasons are listed here. Warmed trays aren’t ideal and might lead to SOME spreading, but shouldn’t make an otherwise successful recipe a disaster so I suspect that wasn’t alone it.
What might cause them to not spread and crack, but to just stay a bit puffy?
Hi, Deb! I made these the other day to bring to opening night of my show, and they were phenomenal, and a huge hit with everybody (I just finished the leftovers with a glass of milk–divine!). But mine didn’t spread out like yours did. They were definitely smaller–I used a tablespoon to scoop them instead of an ice cream scoop–but based on your pictures I expected them to flatten out and crackle on top. Any thoughts on why this might have happened? It almost doesn’t matter, because they were so delicious exactly as they turned out, I’m just curious!
Thank you! I also made your oatmeal cookies a couple weeks ago to a very enthusiastic response from the cast and crew. :)
Hi Anne — I know what causes cookies to spread; the opposite might have been the case? Or, it might have just come from heavier cups of flour and other small variances. You could try pressing them down a little bit to encourage flattening next time.
I always stop here first when looking for a new recipes. But today, consciously decided to give everyone else a shot- and googled snickerdoodle recipes. After looking at all of them, and not wanting to use shortening- I search, snicker doodles without shortening. And now I’m back. Thanks! This is sure to make my hubby’s rainy day.
I always convert the flour to ounces and then weigh it; that usually takes cares of having the proper consistency, which can help prevent spreading too much/not spreading enough. Traditionaloven.com is an excellent resource for conversions. This dough worked best for me when thoroughly chilled, portioned into 1 oz. balls, then baked at 375? for 8 minutes. Thanks again for the awesome website, Deb! Smitten Kitchen is my first stop when looking for any recipe.
Well, Deb, I give up on these cookies…. They have been haunting me ever since my miserably failed first attempt which spread and flattened like a depressed baset hound…. I read your tips on how to prevent cookie spreading, and made adjustments accordingly, but still had no luck… All of my batches spread and were not tasty at all. And thus began an obsession….
I baked them for shorter, for longer, at a higher temp, at a lower temp, refrigerated the dough, didn’t refrigerate the dough, used parchment paper, used tin foil, just put them straight on the sheet, bought a new brand of baking soda, decreased the amount of baking soda, increased the amount of baking soda…. I even obsessively made sure the butter was at exactly 65 degrees. My final attempt was today when I tried to make them on a pizza stone (admittedly these were the best), but theyre still flat. Like my soul right now.
I’m just going to say it’s my oven and try to move on with my life.
I see that this is a really old comment, but I wanted to share that my oven temps are way off and this was causing many of my baked items to flatten out or be deflated. I bought a temperature reader for the oven and that has been a game changer for me in the kitchen. Just thought I would share…
Hi Laura — Nooo. I have to ask: You’re definitely not at a higher altitude, are you? And you’re definitely not using, say, cake flour with leavener already in it, are you? And you’re definitely not doing that really stupid thing I did recently where I put my baking powder and baking soda in matching jars but only wrote what each was on the lid, and then mixed the lids up? (Okay, fine, you probably didn’t do that.)
Hi again! I’m at sea level (Seattle) and am sure I have been using all the right ingredients. I’ve noticed that on a whole my baked goods have been substantially less fluffy and crispy-on-the-outside since moving to a new apartment with a different oven, so it probably really is that and certainly no reflection on your recipe. It’s funny because my old oven was ca. 1970, was one of those little half-sized things, ran on gas, and all the numbers had been rubbed off the knobs so that I was always guesstimating temperatures, and this one is a shiny new electric oven with various fancy gadgetries built, but I hate it!
Love these. Make them every Christmas season. I would love to know the Deb version of the Christmas sugar cookie- I imagine it is tasty but child friendly for family baking!
i’m working on making snickerdoodle ice cream for Christmas: cinnamon & brown sugar in the batter, then adding chunks of cookie in after churning. do you think these cookies will hold up to folding into ice cream AND not get too hard & break a tooth when you try to eat it? or should i fold in chunks of refrigerated dough? someone suggested just using sugar cookies, but i wonder if these will work? happy sunday :)
This is to Rachael about the ice cream: I think the easiest way would be to only cook them partway. Get them set slightly, but not cooked all the way. Let us know what you do!
thanks, A! it’s on my to-make list for christmas eve dinner, i shall keep you posted :)
Deb,
Can you freeze the dough once made? Or even better, leave in the fridge for a few days before making?
It’s the first time I am commenting on one of your recipes, so need to say that I cook from them all the time, and love that you make cooking and baking delicious food so accessible.
I never made Snickerdoodles, but I love them, so I decided to try and make these. This recipe is absolutely delicious. My daughter and her friends love the cookies! Since I first made them a couple of months ago, I keep getting requests for them. Today I am heading to an Oscar party and I was asked to bring these. Back into the kitchen I go. You should definitely try this recipe – – YUMMMY!
Just made these. Have used many different recipes. They are so delicious! However, I was disappointed in the “spreadage”. I was hoping for dark margins with white veins, but I wound up with light brown color all over. I have made the Betty Crocker “Cooky Book” recipe and got the same results. I wonder if it was the difference between using shortening and butter. My grandmother’s always turned out so beautiful. No matter – it didn’t effect the taste AT ALL! They will not last another 24 hours in my house.
I love these cookies so much that I want to move into a house made out of the batter.
I made the gooey cinnamon squares from the cookbook.. The layers seemed to blend together.. The bottom layer puffed over the top!! What did I do wrong?
These are fabulous! We had a blizzard yesterday, and upon realizing I didn’t have my mom’s snickerdoodle recipe, I used this one. I think it’s even better than hers (she agrees). Thanks, as always, for the great recipe.
Perfection on the first try!
Hi Deb,
I have long loved your site- and your cookbook, which is why it is so shocking that this is my first comment. My sister requested that I make a “Maple Ice Cream Cake” for Thanksgiving this year. I do not really know what that means aside from making maple ice cream, but I was thinking of using this snickerdoodle recipe for the crust/ crumbly center. How do you think this would best be achieved? Thanks!!
Meghan — You might find it helpful to look at this Ice Cream Cake in the archives to get started. I definitely think snickerdoodles (or gingersnaps, as they’re crispier) would be good for the chocolate cookie filling.
Ohhh that ice cream cake! I made it for my sister’s birthday this summer, which is how I ended up in my current predicament. Would you bake the cookies first than crumble them into the springform pan, or just place a fair amount of dough at the bottom and cook it that way? Thanks Deb for all you do, my day is not complete without browsing your archives.
hello! i’ve been baking your recipes for a while and everything has always turned out wonderfully! i doubled a batch of these to gift to a friend in return for a favour and followed the recipe to a T! i really hoped the cookies would be flavourful and chewy, but i’m sad to say they turned out cakey and bland. i’m wondering what i might have done wrong, and if there is a way to fix the rest of the batter that i have?
Hi cora — Sorry that you were disappointed. Snickerdoodles are a soft, cakey cookie, so that may have been correct. They’re not supposed to be bland, but they’re definitely… mildly flavored, mostly butter, vanilla and cinnamon. I’m not sure how much was the recipe not working out well for you vs. it just not being the best cookie recipe for you. :(
Just tried one of these fresh off the cooling rack and it is definitely what a snickerdoodle should be. Nice crisp texture, nice and soft and melty and buttery…. yum. Bet they’re REALLY good with that stupid-expensive butter they sell at Eataly and suchlike places. Thanks for the recipe, the last time I tried to make snickerdoodles I failed miserably, but definitely going to do this one again!
Great recipe!! Just made them for Christmas. tomorrow I will make more. There is no shortening in this recipe like everyone is saying. So delicious!!
Deb,
I think these are perfect, but NEED 1-2 tsp good quality vanilla to be perfect! Thanks again for the fabulous recipes.
Hi Deb! We love snickerdoodles in our house! I am curious if you have thoughts about using brown sugar instead of white? Or mixing up the cinammon with other spices like garam masala to make them a little exotic? Thanks!
You might try a partial swap. It’s not ideal to do a full swap in cookies because it can really change the texture — usually it makes things softer, and these cookies are already on the soft side.
Hi Deb. It was 41 years ago when I first had Snickerdoodles. I was visiting my Aunt and Uncle in the Virgin Islands for the summer. We made them every week and had them in the mornings with coffee. I have made them ever since. Our receipt is the same as yours for the exception of shortening instead of butter. I am making them now using butter! Looking forward to trying them.
I have made these cookies 3 times!!!! every single time they have been a total success! EVERYBODY LOVED THEM!!! I usually bake and give away my baked goods to friends… I love baking!!! but I do not eat that many sweets… However, these cookies and a cup of coffee or a glass of milk… YUM!!! thank you for the recipe!!!
THESE ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!
This had to be one of the first Smitten Kitchen recipes I ever tried many years ago, but now living overseas and wanted to do it without cream of tartar. Figuring that Baking Powder is composed of cream of tartar and baking soda, I simply replaced the baking soda and cream of tartar with a total of three teaspoons of baking powder. Came out perfectly.
Hi Deb — just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you and your blog and your incredible recipes. I just made these Snickerdoodles for some friends the other night, and as always, they were delicious. I really appreciate your thoroughness in researching and testing your recipes. Smitten Kitchen is one of the only blogs that I can consistently count on to share high-quality and consistent recipes, and I know that is not an easy feat to achieve! So thank you for all that you do!
This seemed like a good recipe but it came out tasting too eggy. I would probably only use yolks next time instead of two whole eggs.
Hi, Deb — A question about upgrading from sugar cookies to snickerdoodles: I was given two dozen frozen pucks of ready-to-bake sugar cookie dough. I baked a couple of them. Mighty unimpressive. If I thaw the remaining ones and combine the dough in a bowl, what would I need to add to make them snickerdoodles? Cream of tartar on the inside and cinnamon/sugar to roll them in? Is there hope here, or should I just buy some good ice cream and topping and serve the sugar cookies in sundaes? Thanks!
Naomi — The cream of tartar is an old-fashioned way to make baking powder (i.e. cream of tartar plus baking soda) so adding it alone wouldn’t do much. I might just do the cinnamon sugar part. And the ice cream. Also, sundaes, always.
Thanks, Deb — Come on over (to Chicago), bring the fam, and I’ll happily bake and scoop for all of us. Shanah Tovah!
I just realized that no one in the comments had mentioned using browned butter, so I’d better! I make snickerdoodles often, and I always brown the butter and use brown sugar for a much more complex cookie. The texture comes out a bit chewy/cakier than the typical, too, which is no bad thing. Browned butter = near-magical upgrade for most cookies, these included.
Oh the sweet, sweet gem that is a snickerdoodle cookie! These are awesome Deb. When I was a kid my mom made my class these cookies for my birthday (remember that?) and I cried because a) I didn’t know what they were and I thought they’d be terrible b) everyone else got chocolate chip, why couldn’t I??!!?? and c) they will LAUGH AT ME! Turned out to be a huge hit and I became a life long fan.
Well, like a couple of other poor souls, this didn’t work out for me as written. I didn’t understand that you meant for us to bake two pans at once and was rotating one pan from top to bottom. The first two batches were burnt, sadly. I turned down the oven for the last two batches and kept the cookie sheet on the top rung. That seemed to do the trick. My cookies still spread like crazy but were still tasty and I suspect the spreading happened because my butter was too warm. Also, I don’t know why vanilla is frowned upon in these but I used it and thought it added great flavor. Glad it wasn’t a total loss for me and that I figured out the trick that works for my oven! Will make this again with the adjusted temp and in the center of the oven next time, and will watch like a hawk…
Really a yummy recipe, thank you Deb! My cookies don’t spread out much — they’re more like cute little domes. This doesn’t bother anyone at my house snarfing them right up, but I am curious as to why.
I’ve made them twice now, once with Smart Balance (didn’t have butter) and once with butter. They behaved slightly differently with the butter, but still didn’t spread out much.
Also love how quick and easy it is to make these!
Thank you for bailing me out…again. I was going to friends’ party, asked them if they’d like me to make anything. Cookies, sure? What kind? Snickerdoodles? What’s a snickerdoodle??? I searched your site, found the recipe (as I somehow knew I would), made the cookies, and they were a big hit. Whew! Thanks : )
Re #425, a year or two ago I tried a recipe for brown sugar-cardamom snickerdoodles. It sounded so good, but I was disappointed. I think the cardamom flavor wasn’t very strong. I might mix up the spices but am wary about tinkering too much with snickerdoodles.
These didn’t work for me either. They spread thin and wide, were too crispy, the color was weird on some (the way the cinnamon sugar spread out, I suppose). I read the “why cookies spread” post, but I didn’t do anything of those things. Oh well! Win some, lose some.
A few tricks I figured out while making these (they are delicious!): 1) You don’t need a scoop. I used a Tbsp at first, but then just eyeballed it and pinched off dough. Since you’re rolling it anyway, you don’t need a scoop. 2) I used one of those plastic pint containers from take out for the cinnamon and sugar rolling. I put one or two balls of dough in and swished them around and it covered them super well! Because of the high sides it makes that easy to do. And it keeps hands a bit cleaner.
http://luckypeach.com/food-consequences-infernal-dregs/
Saw your recipe for these cookies, which piqued my interest about cream of tartar, and this Lucky Peach post the same day!
I made this dough and I cannot figure out why it tastes salty. I am certain I only added 1/4 tsp table salt and the butter is unsalted. I did not sift dry ingredients but I stirred them a lot and stirred the batter a lot thinking it was somehow all concentrated in the small taste I first had. Is this maybe the cream of tarter and it will be fine once baked? Or is the answer right in front of me and I can’t see it…? thank you :)
This is one of my all time favorite recipes. It’s the best. I was just looking at it again and a question occurred to me – is there a reason why you use baking soda + cream of tartar instead of just using baking soda? From what it understand, the ratio you are using of 1t soda + 2t tartar would be the equivalent of 3t baking powder. Just curious if you see a benefit to doing it separately. thanks!
THESE ARE STRAIGHT UP THE BEST COOKIES I HAVE EVER EATEN.
(also: Robyn, I had that happen once w/chocolate chip cookies and it turned out that I’d been using too much baking soda, due to a mistake in copying the recipe).
I had no butter, so I made these using 1/4 c. + 2 T. canola oil, and they were delicious.
I had no butter, so I made these using 1/4 c. + 2 T. canola oil, and they were delicious. (I halved the recipe.)
These cookies were absolutely incredible. They were little pillows of deliciousness. I will be making these again for sure.
These were amazing cookies! I’m a beginner baker so it was very encouraging to end up with almost perfect cookies on one of my first serious attempts at baking. And my apartment smells heavenly. I’ll definitely be making these again!
Can I freeze either the formed dough, or the baked cookies? I want to make them in advance for Christmas. Thank you!
Either will work.
This is by far the best Snickerdoodle recipe I’ve ever made… Love it! Make them all the time, love your blog!
So delicious! I made these in one tablespoon sized balls because I like having more smaller cookies. They took about 8 minutes to bake at that size.
My grocery store didn’t have cream of tartar (I kid thee not). But I found that 1 tsp. baking powder can be substituted for every 1/4 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar. So I used 4 tsp. baking powder instead of the baking soda and cream of tartar and they turned out great! Maybe a little taller, less spread than those in your pictures but delicious all the same!
Thank you! I followed your advice because I had no cream of tartar.
Delightful! Today, my three-year-old loved helping with the rolling in the cinnamon-sugar, and licking her fingers afterward, of course. Once upon a time, I made these for my L&D nurses, too, but had to keep baking new batches as the ones I made and put in the freezer designated “for nurses only! DO NOT TOUCH!” kept disappearing…
I have a bizarre question. A judgement more than logistics question.
I’m moving across the country and want to bring something share with my new roommates. But, the only thing better than freshly baked cookies is cookies actually baking fresh cookies. Do you think I could freeze this dough, travel ten ish hours, and then slice and bake them in my new kitchen? Or is that excessive/ a Bad Idea?
Thank you!
I would pack them in a cooler (or makeshift one, say, some ice packs in a gallon bag with them) so they don’t fully warm up before you bake them but otherwise, should be fine. What good mojo you’ll bring with them!
So happy you posted these! No joke I was planning on baking these tomorrow. I am traveling and I can’t find cream of tartar anywhere. Do you have a recommendation for a substitution? Thanks for all the wonderful years of food inspo and foodie cravings haha
1 teaspoon baking powder is basically = 1/4 teaspoon baking soda + 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (although some people use 1/3 baking soda and 2/3 cream of tartar) so it’s feasible that 1 tablespoon of baking powder would work here. But I haven’t tried it.
ok, i finally made these, and they’re amazing. i too, was skeptical, being a chocoholic, and with these having no chocolate in them…well, i just wasn’t that interested in them last time i saw this recipe posted. so glad i tried it. thanks for posting again.
Little buttery pillows of comfort and delight. So good. I subbed lemon juice for cream of tartar and did notice the slight bite the lemon added, which was lovely. And yes, these do work very well indeed with GF flour. Thank you!
Excellent snickerdoodle recipe. I added vanilla to the dough — not sure why Deb does not, but I think it adds great flavor. Using a 1 Tbsp. scoop, I got 3 dozen plus 3 cookies.
These were amazing! My 13 year old made them and some are over-cooked (and still delicious) and some are unbaked (and still delicious). Thanks for another great recipe!
That time when you had a Snickerdoodle and it was the most perfect cookie, the Snickerdoodle to end all Snickerdoodles. This is that recipe.
So, my question is: Are you proud of yourself? When my kids requested snickerdoodles, I came here looking for a recipe, because um, where else would I look. I used to be someone who rolled my eyes at those pretentious people who measured ingredients by weight, until you converted me with the promise of fewer dishes to wash. Now, I can’t imagine going back to the old way. Imagine my indignation when this recipe from 2009 was lacking the weights! You’ve created a monster, my girl! After a quick consultation with my friends at Google, we’re all squared away now with weights. But still! The nerve! The cookies are heavenly, per everything else you share, but everyone already knows that. Can’t wait for my new cookbook to arrive btw. It’s been preordered for months.
I got greedy and skipped the chilling step (I also typically trust Martha). My cookies came out entirely burnt on the bottom and essentially inedible. I had to do some cookie surgery and remove all the bottoms :(. Such a sad batch.
For future reference, what should the temperature be for the oven if you plan to skip the chilling step?
Thanks for the post!
My 10 yo son and I just made your Snickerdoodle Cookie recipe and they are delicious! My son said “I like how they are crispy on the bottom, soft in the middle but still stay together. And the cinnamon sugar: YUM”
YUM! These Snickerdoodles look so delicious and easy to make.
I chilled the dough overnight, then rolled the cookies and baked them right away. They are delicious, but they did not spread nearly as much as yours. Also, I had quite a bit of cinnamon sugar leftover, so I’m wondering if more should have adhered to the cookies. Should I have let the dough warm up a bit before rolling and baking?
Followed the recipe exactly, doubled the amount and they came out beautifully – really like these.
I expected there to be snickers in them because of the name of the biscuit
Would these work if I used oil instead of butter?
I made these tonight. They all melted into a big cookie puddle in the oven. Was it because the dough was too soft before I put them in the oven? Still tasted great though!
Sooooo good. Thank you!
Love these cookies. The first batch came out sooo good! Often when I bake cookies they do not flatten and I get little mounds rather than flat cookies. Any advice?
Will of course depend on the recipe but quite often it’s just slightly too much flour, overly packed in a measuring cup.
Hi! could you make these and use browned butter and they would still turn out the same? I love these cookies and I love brown butter and I think it would give it some edge.
I agree it would taste great here but it doesn’t always work the same. You lose volume (usually the water that’s cooked off) when you brown the butter so things can end up more brittle and dry.
I’ve never had this issue until now, but I only have salted butter. Is this a deal breaker?
Just skip the salt in the cookie!
No cinnamon in the actual dough? Has anyone added vanilla?
I have self- control issues when it comes to cookies. The more we have in the house, the more I feel like I need to eat a dozen in one sitting. I have recently started baking about 15 and freezing the rest of the dough in an ice cube tray (which works best for my tiny apartment sized freezer). Have you ever frozen these? Would you freeze them before or after the cinnamon sugar?
I might do the cinnamon sugar after freezer so it has the best chance of remaining a separate texture. Good luck!
Wow! Everyone, do your selves a favor and add to the dough:
– vanilla
– maple syrup
– nutmeg
It will amp up the autumn and change your life.
I am looking for a cookie that will survive a long postal trip (5 days?). Is this a good one…or do you have a better suggestion?
Thanks.
This should be fine but roll-out cookies are probably best for longer travel.
Thanks! These cookies are great. And so are you.
Made these again last night and they turned out perfectly! I didn’t have cream of tartar in hand, so I swapped all of the baking soda & cream of tartar for 1 tbsp baking powder. They seemed undercooked when they came out of the oven after 10 mins, but once they cooled completely I could see the doneness was just right. These are my go-to snickerdoodle these days! Thanks Deb!
Will this work with the food processor technique you recommend in your ‘better ways to make cookies’ post, Deb?
Many thanks!
I just did this and it turned out great!
I made this today and got 34 pieces , the middle part of the snickerdoodles were a bit soft whereas around the snickerdoodles it was crunchy. I’m sure my husband will love it and he does not want to share it with his co-workers. With the racks in the oven, after 10 minutes I noticed under the snickerdoodles were partly burnt, re-adjusted the racks and it was ok. I am wondering if next time I should lower the temperature for my oven? But they did all bake in 10 minutes as I had followed this recipe. Thanks for all your lovely recipes.
I had the same experience. For the second batch I adjusted the racks toward the middle, lowered the temp, and baked them only 8 minutes, rotating halfway through and they turned out good. Maybe we just have ovens that run hot?
Thanks for sharing comments.i have the dogh chilling but the 400 degrees makes me nervous. Lol
These turned out so good! I doubled the batch for a cookie swap and got 7 dozen, rolling the cookies to a little smaller than a golf ball. They only needed about 8 mins. They are delicious!!
These have become my favorite cookie.
I love the flavor on these but I prefer a snickerdoodle that is a bit puffier and more cakey. Mine were definitely flatter than I prefer and I can see by the picture that that may be how they come out. I think next time I will add some baking powder, that should hopefully puff them up and I see other snickerdoodle recipes include it.
perfection! I made small cookies and had too much of the cinn-sugar topping. They are a new house favorite (for some of us!). Thanks!
My dough seemed really dry. Maybe it will moisten and hold together better after time in the fridge? Fingers crossed!
Perfect recipe! I’ve tried several and many are just not cinnamony enough! We made ours into penny snickerdoodles – rolled them into marble-sized balls and baked for 5 minutes.
Why not baking powder? Instead of soda + cream of tartar?
This is my FAVORITE snickerdoodle recipe by far. Definitely, a household favorite that doesn’t last too long after coming out of the oven. Thanks for sharing.
I used to think that I didn’t like snickerdoodles…until I tried this recipe. Now they have become my favorite cookie! I’m making some right now to take to a class tomorrow!
Made these and they turned out delicious! I added a splash of vanilla. However, I used the measurements above but only got 27 cookies. Thank you Deb!
Try 1 lb butter , 4 oz of it browned and cooled, paddle mix with 1 cup Brown sugar with pinch of nutmeg and 1 t. Cinn . 2 t. Baking powder , 2 eggs and 5 cups AP flour and 1 cup corn starch( all together make cake flour) and 1 T vanilla..
Mix all except eggs and vanilla ,when it almost comes together, add eggs and vanilla. Don’t over mix. Roll in cinn, sugar. Low n slow make crispy. Short n fast chewy fudgy. Know your oven 325 f Reg oven 9 and 9 or so. Convection 275, 7 and 7
I’ve been making these for years, apparently, but I have no idea where I got the recipe – it has been passed down through my family. The only difference is the coating amount – I use a 1:3 ratio of cinnamon to sugar instead of 1:2, and a bit less of each (3 tsp + 3 Tbsp). I find it’s enough – no matter how much I roll the balls around, they only get coated so much. Maybe I’ll try more cinnamon next time though! And I usually only bake for 8 minutes (I like them softer). These are among my favorites!
Please add grams to the ingredients. I’ve become accustomed to it with your recipes. Getting ready to make these again. it’s been a while and I have a craving plus I will be sending out a gift of baked goods to a friend.
thanks
This recipe is perfection. I am not a great baker, more of a cook. I like the random substitution, being able to balance flavors based on what’s in the fridge and cabinet, versus sticking directly and closely to a recipe.
But for baking, I try to really just stick exactly to the recipe, which I did here. And OMG. So good. Perfection, really.
I made one batch and with a smaller cookie scoop (using these has changed my cookie making forever) I ended up with just about 50 delicious cookies. They were the best day-of, and still good for a while afterward, but the one my husband had a few weeks later (that he forgot was in the plastic container) he said was just not the same. So eat these up soon after making for maximum texture and flavor enjoyment.
My coworkers are already asking me to make another batch and bring them in. :)
And I also only needed 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mix for coating the exterior. Based on other reviews, I decided to start with just that and it was just the right amount.
What is, cream of tatar ?
I live in Denmark and would like to try and make these biscuits ?
I haven’t tested this swap but I know many people in the comments have substituted both the baking soda and the cream of tartar for 3 teaspoons of baking powder.
Question, can you use coconut oil instead of butter?
Can I halve this recipe?
I just did, so yes.
I used this recipe to make snickerdoodles for a friend who did me a favor (it’s her fave dessert). For the first dozen, I followed the instructions on letting the cookies cool on the tray on a cooling rack for 5 mins before transferring the cookies directly onto the cooling rack. As a result, they came out a bit overcooked (bottoms were very dark brown with traces of black). For the subsequent batches, I only let them cool in the tray for a minute before I slid the parchment paper with the cookies on to the cooling rack. These came out perfectly golden brown on the bottoms and had the perfect texture. Will be saving this as my go-to snickerdoodle recipe!
what adjustments, if any, would you make when making this as a bar cookie? for sure cinnamon on the bottom. any changes to recipe or just spread it in a 9X13? temp and time? has anyone tried it? Have made the cookies several times and they are delish but time consuming. I’m going for the immediate gratification.
I think you could just make a single yield of the recipe in a 9×13.
Hi Deb, these are my go to snickerdoodles. I was wondering do you have any tips for converting them to pumpkin snickerdoodles?
hi! this recipe looks so delicious and I’m so excited to try it but I only have salted butter:( is there anything i should change about the recipe other than omitting the salt to make it taste the same?
Yes, just halve the salt in the cookie.
These are ridiculous! I made them using half brown butter and did NOT regret it. 10/10 recommend.
I’ve never had a snickerdoodle so I had nothing to compare it to, but holy smokes were these good. I made the batch for a friend who requested them, and he said these were the best that he ever had. The kicker for him was the cinnamon on the top and the bottom. Unlike others, I had the perfect amount of cinnamon sugar for the batch and I used the #40 scoop which made cookies that were quite large, Martha’s must have been the size of pancakes. Thanks for another winner winner chicken dinner of a recipe Deb!
Sorry if I’m missing it in the recipe but how much of the ground cinnamon amount (2T) is supposed to be used for the cinnamon sugar topping to mix with the 1/4 cup of sugar? Thank you!!
All of it. There’s none inside the cookie. :)
These are the best snickerdoodles I’ve ever had. They lasted maybe two days in the house lol!
I so wish you’d write “divided” by the sugar, just accidentally put the full amount in the cookies. My fault, but the “divided” standard is helpful for the distracted cook/baker.
These are super good! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
add me to the list of people who used the entire amount of sugar (350g) in the batter instead of holding back 1/4 cup for rolling the cookies in. Oops! I agree with the commenter who suggested adding the word “divided” after the sugar quantity – that probably would have helped me.
I have made these many times over the years, and did again just today. They are so wonderful! I accidentally – even though I have a note somewhere to avoid this – used the full sugar amount this time. (I added more salt to balance it – the end result was fine!) Worth going back and adjusting the instructions because even though this recipe was posted many years ago, it is a classic. But, one thing I always remember to do is double the cream of tartar. Yep! I love a tangy snickerdoodle and so double it – it is not too tangy, but plenty balanced against the sugar.
These were perfect. Thankfully I had the same size scoop as you, so the 10 minute bake time was spot on. 90’s dreams come true!
I was looking for the perfect snickerdoodle recipe and I found it! I made this after Erika from @thepancakeprincess on IG reviewed the top snickerdoodle recipes and this was the fan favorite. I can definitely see why! They are perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I did brown one stick of butter because I always like a bit of brown butter in my cookies and wow. Thanks Deb! I’ll be making this for years to come.
Skipped the chilling part( I was too excited). Not sure if the oven was too hot or if skipping the chilling part caused the bottoms to burn. I cut the time back 2 minutes and that helped a little. The shape also did not change they stayed pretty much the same overall size and shape which is fine I just don’t know if I did something wrong when I followed every instruction besides chilling. Had great reviews from taste testers!!
I made these ahead of time for a party and froze them after portioning and rolling in cinnamon sugar. Baked from frozen at 380F for about 12-13 min. Perfect!
I appreciate the recipe. Thank you.
Small suggestion: I hope you will consider splitting up the sugar in the ingredients list. I only use recipes with weight and made the mistake of adding all of the sugar (too much) for the dough.
I also made this mistake, because I only looked at weight. Could anyone else who has done this tell me how they turned out?
Everyone in the family loved these and they turned on great aesthetically, but imo I noticed a slight eggy-ness maybe due to lack of vanilla? Or maybe I’m just used to having cookies with vanilla in the dough ?