My all time favorite snickerdoodles! This easy recipe yields perfectly soft and chewy cookies with a generous coating of cinnamon sugar. A classic cookie you’ll crave again and again!
Snickerdoodles weren’t part of my childhood, but as an adult, I discovered them, and they quickly became my all-time favorite cookie. Their soft, chewy texture, subtle tang, and cinnamon sugar coating are irresistible.
My version is extra easy to make, and I cannot wait for you to make them. For more of my favorite cookie recipes, see our homemade shortbread cookies, these easy chocolate chip cookies, and my favorite oatmeal cookies.
Key Ingredients
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour for these cookies. Some bakers love using bread flour to make their cookies chewier. If you want to experiment with it, the dough will be drier, so consider adding a tablespoon or two of milk.
- Cream of Tartar: This is the key to what sets snickerdoodles apart from other cookies. This acidic powder gives snickerdoodles their signature tangy flavor and chewy texture. I don’t recommend leaving it out. I buy it in the spice aisle of the grocery store.
- Baking Soda: It helps our cookies rise and turn a lovely golden brown.
- Butter: It’s the reason these cookies taste so incredible. If you use salted butter, remove the salt called for in the recipe below. The butter needs to be room temperature for this recipe.
- Sugar and Vanilla: I use granulated sugar to make snickerdoodles. The vanilla adds flavor and richness.
- Eggs: They add moisture, structure, and improve the flavor of our cookie dough. Room temperature eggs are best. If you forget to take them out in advance, place them in a bowl of lukewarm water for a few minutes.
- Cinnamon Sugar: Before baking, we roll balls of snickerdoodle dough in cinnamon sugar (you can make it yourself; see our recipe below).
How to Make Snickerdoodles
I use my handheld electric mixer or stand mixer to cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Then I add the eggs. Finally, slowly incorporate a mixture of flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
Now that you have your cookie dough, I highly recommend chilling it for 30 minutes. I realize this adds time before you get to enjoy your freshly baked snickerdoodle, but chilling the dough does a few things:
- It prevents the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
- It makes them chewier since the flour can absorb more moisture.
- It makes them taste better.
While you can technically skip the chilling step, I strongly recommend it for the best snickerdoodles. I recommend chilling the dough for at least 30 minutes, but you can chill it longer (up to 3 days) if you like. If you want to skip chilling, you can. Just be mindful that your cookies might spread more than shown in our video and photos.
Then, once the dough has chilled, you can roll cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar. We are generous with the cinnamon for our coating and use 1 ½ tablespoons with 1/4 cup of sugar. The tangy flavor from the cream of tartar and this easy cinnamon sugar coating makes these cookies taste amazing.
Easy Snickerdoodles
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
We love these soft and chewy snickerdoodle cookies rolled in an irresistible cinnamon sugar. Every time we make a batch, we fall in love again. Chilling the dough for 30 minutes helps keep the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. You can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 3 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
For the Snickerdoodles2 ½ cups (325g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter at room temperature, see tips for salted
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs at room temperature
For Cinnamon Sugar1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
Directions
- Make Cookie Dough
1Sift or whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together, then set aside.
2In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer at medium speed beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy for 3 to 4 minutes. (Or, use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment).
3Reduce the speed to low, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then add the flour mixture in three parts, mixing until it just disappears.
5Wrap with plastic wrap and chill the cookie dough at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
- Bake the Cookies
1Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use silicon baking mats.
2In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon.
3Shape heaping tablespoon-sized mounds of cookie dough into balls. Roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. (A medium cookie scoop is helpful here).
4Bake the cookies until they have puffed a little and the tops look set, 8 to 10 minutes. They should be light golden.
5Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. (The cookies will fall a little as they cool).
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Place baked and cooled cookies into an airtight container lined with a paper towel. Store at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Freezing the cookie dough: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop and roll individual dough balls, roll them into cinnamon sugar, and then place them onto the baking sheet (they can be close together). Put them in the freezer until hard, for about 30 minutes. Transfer frozen dough balls to an airtight container or plastic bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen. Expect an additional 2 to 3 minutes of baking time.
- Salted butter: If you use salted butter in this recipe, omit the salt called for above.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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This is a wonderful recipe. Everyone loves it. Soft in the middle and crispy on the outside.Thanks for the recipe!!
This is something that every home as well as company needs.
LOVE this recipe, I use it every year at holiday time! I’d use it more, but I don’t bake during the year, because I’d eat what I make! I give treats out at holiday time.
I would like to mention that the grams of flour listed at 350 for 2.5 cups of flour is too high. Maybe check into that. I doubled the recipe as I normally do and decided to use my digital scale. 5 cups of flour should be in the low 600g range, not 700 (350 x 2). I use a lot of your recipes, love the simplicity. Thank you!
Hi, I plan to make these as your recipe looks very well thought out and the cookies look great. I have one question. “A medium cookie scoop is helpful here” – what size, exactly, is this. I have a 3 tbs. scoop – ok or too big? Thanks, Bill
Hi Bill, Medium cookie scoops are usually 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons.
Thank-you. Ordered the smaller size.
Thanks, these have a very nice flavour. And they are quite caramelly. Yet I think there may too much butter for the amount of flour. Many years ago I used to use the old Better Homes & Gardens recipe for Snickerdoodles and the ratio of butter/flour for it was 1:3. And it used far less cream of tartar. They didn’t spread out anywhere near as much as many current recipes do.
I ground my own cinnamon by using a coffee grinder to grind up cinnamon sticks. And it changed the game. Taking these to 11.
What a great idea! Glad you loved them 🙂
This snickerdoodle recipe is by far the best ever.
Yay! We are thrilled you love them 🙂
I just came across your website. Love your recipes and ideas. I want to try them all. I am getting hungry just looking at the recipes. TKS
These cookies do not fail. Absolutely lovely!
Made snickerdoodles for the first time using this recipe and I have no regrets! The perfect balance of crisp and chewy in the center. The flavor was spot on as well. I also used part brown sugar too which I think is what made them even chewier in the center! However, they did come out a little too thin for my preference.
The best cookie I have made! Love it
Wonderful. You have made our day 🙂
Wow, these are perfection! For the last few years I’ve been using a different recipe that used half butter and half Crisco. I didn’t like using the Crisco, I wanted an all butter recipe and this one delivered. I followed the instructions exactly as noted and these came out just as described. I think one of the important things to note is to not over bake the cookies.You have to take them out before they are totally done and keep them on the hot cookie sheet as noted. There was way too much sugar and cinnamon though, so I dipped the top of each cookie in it for more sugary goodness.Thank you!!
Absolute Perfection!! These are heavenly. I followed the recipe exactly, but used sea salt instead of Kosher salt. I didn’t read the note after that stated that 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt = 1 tsp sea salt, so i used 1tsp sea salt. It still turned out fantastic. I even added the eggs after the flour accidentally! This is my go-to, thank you!!
Could I substitute the sea salt with regular table salt?
Yep!
Oh my golly gosh! This is the recipe I have been searching for! The cookies have the right tang, the crispy edges, and chewy centers. I will be baking lots of these. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
What a nice review! 🙂
Made these tonight BEST COOKIE EVER!! Didn’t have cream of tartar so I took out baking soda and used 2 tsp of baking powder!! They came out so perfectly crispy on outside so soft and chewy on inside!!!
We are so glad replacing the cream of tartar worked for you! We still need to test this out ourselves. It has been on our to-do list for a while 🙂