Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies
The popular cinnamon-sugar soft and chewy sugar cookie recipe. A recipe that has been in the family for over 30 years!
This was one of the first cookie recipes I made as a kid. As I have shared before, I was fully obsessed with cookbooks as a little girl. My Mom collected church cookbooks and I would go straight to the cookie recipes and beg my Mom to let me whip up a batch. I made this snickerdoodle cookie recipe 30 years ago and it is still the best I have ever tasted.
This is such a popular Christmas cookie because I have yet to find anyone who doesn’t love snickerdoodle cookies! When I used to teach a cooking school for kids, it was the first cookie I taught them to make because kids love them. Whenever I make these cookies, they disappear so darn fast!
So what makes a perfect snickerdoodle cookie?
A snickerdoodle cookie has to be soft and chewy. No hard hockey puck cookies here! It has to be rolled twice in cinnamon-sugar to ensure that it is completely coated. It also has to have the signature tang from the cream of tartar.
How to make the BEST Snickerdoodle Cookie:
- Start by creaming butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes. This is an important step as the butter coats the sugar crystals and creates a smooth texture. It also whips air into the cookie dough.
- Use Cream of Tartar as a leavening agent. It gives it the signature tangy flavor and chewy texture. A touch of baking soda helps the cookies to rise as well.
- Double roll the cookie balls into a cinnamon-sugar mixture. This helps to make sure the cookies are completely coated in cinnamon-sugar before baking.
- Bake just until the edges begin to become a light golden color. These snickerdoodle cookies need to be soft and chewy so watch carefully. If you want them to be flat, press the balls down in the center before placing in the oven.
- My favorite baking tools for perfect Snickerdoodle cookies — light-colored baking sheets, parchment paper sheets, KitchenAid mixer.
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Check out some more of my most popular cookie recipes:
Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
MJ’s Top Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon Sugar Cookies
Soft Chewy Sugar Cookies
Grandma Geri’s Gingersnaps
Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies
Mrs. Claus Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies
The Best Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe. Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies. The popular cinnamon-sugar soft and chewy sugar cookie recipe. A recipe that has been in the family for over 30 years!
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter (softened)
- 1 1/2 cups Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 2 3/4 cup Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 cup Sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar for 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla. Cream for 1-2 minutes longer.
Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, just until combined.
In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon.
If time allows, wrap the dough and let refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Roll into small balls until round and smooth. Drop into the cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat well. Using a spoon, coat for a second time, ensuring the cookie balls are completely covered. *To make flatter snickerdoodles, press down in the center of the ball before placing in the oven. This helps to keep them from puffing up in the middle. *
Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Let cool for several minutes on baking sheet before removing from the pan.
I hope you love this snickerdoodle cookie recipe and it becomes a staple in your family for years! Happy Baking!
It is 11:27 pm in Kansas City on Monday, August 31, and I just took the last batch of cookies out of the oven. I’ve eaten 6 of these cookies!!!! This is NOT good…LOL. They are soooooo DELICIOUS – WOW!
Thanks so much for this recipe. It is definitely my go to for Snickerdoodle Cookies!
I’m in Kansas City, MO as well and I’m literally about to put these in the oven at 1:15am but I have no parchment paper🥴 HELP!
I’m in KC too! Can we all just get together and have a baking party? Haha.
Yesssssss!!!
Haha, I may be a bit late, but you CAN substitute parchment paper! Just grease the cookie pan with whatever you like: cooking spray, butter + flour, etc. Remember though that you may not have the EXACT same results with substituted ingredients, so be flexible 🙂
GOODNESSS…. littarly the second i took a bite of this cookie, i was in heaven!! i dipped mine in milk (dont judge) and it was soooooo goood!! BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOODNESSS…. littarly the second i took a bite of this cookie, i was in heaven!! i dipped mine in milk (dont judge) and it was soooooo goood!! BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good good good good
Yes!
My husband is gluten free so I swapped the flour straight across with Pillsbury Gluten Free APFB. And let me tell you, THEY WERE DEVINE! Thank you for a perfect recipe! Finally a gluten free dessert we can actually ENJOY together.
My daughter is GF as well, is the flour the only thing you changed? I’d like to make her home-made instead of boxed.
These are so good! and so easy! first time making snickerdoodles and everyone loved them THANK YOU!
My husband is gluten free so I swapped the flour straight across with Pillsbury Gluten Free APFB. And let me tell you, THEY WERE DEVINE! Thank you for a perfect recipe! Finally a gluten free dessert we can actually ENJOY together.
This is SO good you have to try !!!! 💗💗🥰🥰🥰😁😁😁😁☺️☺️☺️
Best snickerdoodle recipe ever! So easy and soooo yummy.
I made these and everyone loved them, so they were quite excellent. My only challenge was after baking for 11 minutes and letting them sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, they were too soft. When I tried to move them to the cooling rack, they just fell apart. For my second batch, I baked for 13-14 minutes and they were perfect. Still came out quite soft, and remained soft 4 days later when I packed the remaining cookies for my daughter to take to work.
I baked mine for about 17 minutes and they turned out to be the perfect texture! Not too soft, but not too hard.
These are indeed some of the best snickerdoodles I have ever had. Definitely the best ones I’ve ever made myself. I ate about 4 of them the first day I baked them, and I’m the one person in my family who usually avoids sugar like the plague. I really appreciated the easy to follow recipe and tips – my cookies turned out perfectly. I will be making more of these!! Thanks SO much for sharing—you’ve made my family very happy!
All my friends LOVE them. Now it’s one of my deserts that everyone wants me to make at their going away or gathering party.
Hey (:
Is there any way to sub the eggs in this recipe?
I am vegan and would love to make them, but I’m not sure what the eggs do in this recipe.
Hi Nathaniel–there are ways to substitute eggs in cookie recipes! Some eggsamples (get it) are: unsweetened applesauce (replace 1 egg with 1/4 cup applesauce), and plain vanilla or soy yogurt (replace 1 egg with 1/4 cup yogurt). Hope this helped!
Baked them and ohhhhh they are like everyone said… amazing
I would like to know how to get the look though, mine just come out like normal cookies.
Did you roll in the cinnamon sugar?
I was looking for a recipe to use up some bread flour and I stumbled upon this one. I took another reviewer’s recommendation and added some nutmeg to the cinnamon-sugar coating. The cookies were soft and tasted great.
What flour do you use? All purpose or self rising.
I used all-purpose and they turned out great!
These are the best cookies I have ever made! I ask my family what type of cookies they want for dessert, and they ALWAYS reply “Your snickerdoodles!” . Thank you so much Modern Honey for making me seem like a great baker! I will always and forever use this recipe!
I find that if the recipe list has you adding salt and baking soda, it means use All Purpose flour. You can still use the Self Rising flour, just leave out the salt and baking soda.
Oh no! I forgot to rate this recipe! Five star all the way!
I think the ratio of cinnamon to sugar is too high. Please adjust.
I am about to make these for the first time so have been reading through comments to pick up any hints or tips. I too thought at first the cinnamon seemed to be too much but then thought about the overall recipe. It’s high on cinnamon because the cookie is already perfectly sugar-balanced. The cinnamon is the key to Snickerdoodles. It makes complete sense in my world that adding more sugar would just skimp on the spice and end up too sweet.
But as with any recipe, everyone has the freedom to adjust it to their own liking. That’s how your own copies that you keep in your own box come to have all those hints and tips and comments jotted on them that make them beautiful and nostalgic and “yours”.
I’ll be back later today with my take on the results. From the sounds of it, I may need to protect my computer from crumbs and cookie fingers while documenting it! Ha! Can’t wait!!
Uh, oh… these whipped up very well. It was difficult to resist eating way too much dough. A good judge of cookies always has to start with delicious dough, right?? Hands down fabulous. When it came time to roll in cinnamon sugar, I was excited to verify my theory above of lots of cinnamon. I wanted lots of it, so I quadrupled it. 1 cup of sugar and 6 Tablespoons of cinnamon. Very little if any of the sugar was able to grab on for the ride because Miss Cinnamon got a little spicy and unruly. They looked like burned toast with peeks of white trying to escape through the edges.
What did I do incorrectly? Yours are so beautifully coated with a delicate cinnamon glow…
But… they did taste delicious once the cinnamon attack subsided.
OMG. Adjust it yourself. Some people complain about EVERYTHING. Even a cookie recipe. A COOKIE recipe.
For real!
I have some sweet cream unsalted butter. Is this okay to use ?
just finished making a batch of your snickerdoodles. Great, easy to follow recipe. and turned out very good.
thank you!!
Came out perfect and taste great!
WARNING!
These cookies take on a life of their own and fling themselves into your mouth! Be prepared!!
In all seriousness though… I am from a country where snickerdoodles isn’t a regular part of the cookie repetoire. I was reading a story in which snickerdoodles were mentioned and I thought “hi, I wanna try whatever that is” and went to the great big internet to find a recipe.
For such a simple recipe, these cookies are absolutely delicious!
I’ve already eate four and I only just took them out of the oven 15 minutes ago… Like I said, they fling themselves at you!
Wow! My husband love Snickerdoodles and I have been trying to impress him for the last 5 years to no avail! This is finally the wining recipe and I’m so glad I found it! These will also be a staple in our home when I want to bake him a sweet treat! I also plan to add them to my xmas staples… Orange Drop cookies and Nestle Tollhouse cookies! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never left a rating on a recipe before but this is hands down the best homemade cookie recipe I’ve ever used. My new go to when we’re craving sugar we don’t need.
this is so good! My family loved them
Great cookies everyone loved them. Its a win!! looking forward to trying other recipes
This recipe is absolutely delicious ! It actually made 33 cookies and they taste outstanding !!
I halved the recipe and ended up making about 16 cookies. Turned out soft & chewy – just perfect! I highly recommend. Thank you!
I have a question. I used 2 3/4 cups of flour and my dough is like cake batter
I’m about to make this recipe for the third time, the cookies end up amazing and my whole family loves them!! 40 cookies are gone in a week because we just can’t stop eating them!! I use a higher sugar to cinnamon ratio to roll the dough in (idk what ratio, just add more sugar lol) but everything else by the recipe and they end up so warm and chewy in the middle but slightly crunchy on the outer edges, which is perfect. Keeping this recipe for every time I make snickerdoodles!!
So good! I think this is the new favorite Snickerdoodle recipe in a house with 5 expert cookie eaters.
If I freeze dough balls, what would be the baking time and temp? Thanks
Great recipe! We loved these cookies so much!
Oh so yummy! I used a course cane sugar to roll them in. This helped add some crunch to the outside, mixed with the perfectly soft inside. This is a keeper!
These cookies are incredible! Unfortunately I do not have a photo because they were eaten IMMEDIATELY. Seriously. I love me a chewy cookie!
Why would the first thing to do be preheat the oven when you have to refrigerate dough for 30 minutes?
Yummmm. These are crispy on the the outside and melt in your mouth on the inside. So good!! I added some a half teaspoon of nutmeg, ginger and ground cloves to the cinnamon sugar to make my home smell like gingerbread and get in the Christmas spirit!!
My only tiny disappointment is that they didn’t end up nice and flat like the photos; and I did press down my balls of dough in the center before cooking. Maybe I should have flattened them out a bit more? Or perhaps too much baking powder? They are still absolutely delicious, though!!
Thanks for they great recipe
These came out perfect- thanks!
Delicious!!! I substituted cream of tartar for double the amount of lemon juice and it worked perfectly
My neighbor’s little girl absolutely loves snickerdoodle cookies and this being the first time I’ve ever made them I used her as my judge on how I did. She LOVED them. I asked her if there might be anything I could have done to make them better and she suggested that I roll them in obviously cinnamon but instead of regular sugar to maybe next time to use brown sugar. Not sure if this has ever been suggested before but out of the mouths of babes come what I think is a good idea. Gonna try it next batch. Thanks for the recipe and will try others in the future.