Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe – How to Make it in 11 Simple Steps

Pillowy-soft cookies rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar before baking, the classic Snickerdoodle Cookie is a favorite of many. To get the distinctive texture and tangy flavor, you have to use cream of tartar in the dough. Why not bake a batch of these old fashioned favorites today?

A key ingredient to a Snickerdoodle Cookie is cream of tartar. Cream of tartar does two things in this popular cookie recipe. First, the cream of tartar is a little more sour than baking powder, so it gives these cookies their classic, slightly tangy flavor. Second, the cream of tartar acts as a leavening agent in these cookies. The cream of tartar causes the cookies to puff up as they are baked. You can find recipes for snickerdoodles that use baking powder and baking soda in various quantities, but they will be slightly different from the classic Snickerdoodle. 

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Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients 1x2x3x

Instructions

Notes

Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe

April Freeman

While some people love a good chocolate chip cookie or maybe a sugar cookie, there are those who like nothing more than a soft, chewy, cinnamon-spiced Snickerdoodle Cookie. These easy-to-bake cookies are not overly sweet and will be the perfect accompaniment for an afternoon cup of tea or coffee.

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Prep Time 20 mins

Baking Time 30 mins

Total Time 50 mins

Cuisine American

Servings 36 Servings

Equipment

• Large bowl
• Wire whisk
• Electric Mixer
• Medium-Sized Bowl
• Wooden Spoon
• Small bowl
• Cookie Dough Scoop
• Cookie Sheet

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup Softened Butter
• 1½ cups Granulated Sugar
• 2 pcs Eggs
• 2¾ cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter until it is light, creamy, and fluffy.
  
• Add the sugar and the eggs and beat them again. Add the vanilla and mix well. You do not have to use an electric mixer, but using one does make the mixing process go more quickly. 
  
• In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, cream of tartar, salt, and baking soda. 
• Stir the flour mixture into the bowl containing the butter and sugar mixture. Use a powerful electric mixer, or, if it’s too much for your mixer, use a wooden spoon. The dough will be very thick. If the dough is still a little sticky, put it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. 
  
• In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon.
• Use a tablespoon or a cookie dough scoop to scoop out balls that are the size of whole walnuts. Roll the dough into symmetrical balls and roll the balls into the cinnamon and sugar mixture until they are coated all over with cinnamon and sugar. 
  
• Put the dough balls on the cookie sheet, spacing them about two inches apart. Flatten the cookies slightly, so they will not roll around when you try to move the cookie sheet. 
• Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes or until they are slightly firm in the middle. Do not overbake your snickerdoodles. 
• Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, or until they collapse in the middle and firm up a bit. 
• Put the cookies on a plate to completely cool and when they are cool, store them in a zip top baggie, tightly sealed, or in a container with an airtight lid for up to a week. 
  

Notes

This recipe starts with two sticks of softened butter. Of course, the easiest way to soften butter is to set it out on the countertop for an hour or so. However, if you bake long enough, you will have a moment when you get ready to bake cookies, and you realize that you have forgotten to set out the butter. What’s a cook to do? 

You can’t just skip this part of a recipe. Butter is a solid fat, and when you start with cold butter the texture of the recipe will not be right. Microwaving the butter yields disappointing results. Microwaves heat fats unevenly, so by the time that the butter is soft in some areas, other parts of the stick have melted into a puddle. Melted butter will not trap air when it is whipped. 

Butter that is perfect for baking is a bit squishy and will hold an indentation when you poke it. To quickly get a couple of sticks of butter to this point, there is a surefire shortcut. First, cut your butter into pats in a single layer on a plate or in a bowl. Next, microwave about 2 cups of water in a microwave-safe measuring cup for about 2 minutes. You want the water to be very hot and the steam to warm the interior of the microwave.

After the water is hot, open the microwave, remove the measuring cup of water and set the bowl with the butter slices in the microwave. Quickly close the microwave, trapping as much heat in it with the butter as possible. After about 10 minutes the butter should be soft enough so that you can start baking with it. 

Snickerdoodle cookies have been around for a long time, most likely originating in the New England area of the United States. Culinary historians believe that Dutch or German immigrants made these cookies as far back as the late 1800s. They also think that the funny-sounding name of these popular cookies comes from an adaptation of the German name for “snail dumplings.”

Keyword Recipe, Snack, Snickerdoodle Cookies

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