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!
Very good cookies! My family fell in love with them. I split the dough in half and made two different cookies with the dough. One half I rolled in cinnamon and sugar and the other half I added chunks of pecans into the dough and placed a whole pecan on top. They both came out delicious! We had pecans lying around and decided to go for it after we tried the first batch of regular snicker doodle cookies and bit into the warm, soft, and chewy cookie. We knew it would go so well with pecans and it did!
Thank you for the tip! I will definitely be trying this with pecans.
Love that pecan suggestion! I wanted to add nuts to some of the cookies and was scrolling for comments to see if anyone had used nuts with success. Thank you for making the effort to contribute your comment!
Oh my! These are the best! Making some to give away but I’m going to have to keep a dozen for my own family.
Tried this recipe tonight! Everyone loved them… definitely a home run recipe!! Thank you for sharing.
First time I’ve ever had snickerdoodle cookies. They were so simple and delicious! I would definately make these again. Just wondering how many grams of cookie dough do you use for your size? Love the recipe!
I have loved snickerdoodles my entire life and I’ve never had one better than these. This recipe is IT. I think the key is to whip the butter and sugar with electric mixer for the 4-5 minutes. And definitely flatten them a little before putting in oven. They came out lightly crispy on the outside and so chewy and fluffy on the inside. PERFECTION.
eh i tried them last night, but i found a few things wrong with this recipe. the bake time was completely off and i had the oven preheated for a while before i threw my cookies in. along with not having an accurate time the cinnamon and sugar ratio for me was a bit off. i wanna believe maybe it was a typo, but who knows? i will say the dough itself looked and tasted good. in the end i did finally get to have my cookies all baked, but i just had to cook them longer than suggested.
Yes, I agree the cooking time is much longer. My first batch was very raw dough in the middle. Need to add much more time to baking them. Dough itself is very yummy!
Same here. The oven had been preheated for a while, and after I put them in for 10 minutes and were still raw. Maybe the cookies need to be a tiny for the time to work correctly.
These took about 15 minutes to bake. Tasted amazing!!
made these snickerdoodles and they are amazing!!! can’t make enough of them
The BEST snickerdoodles EVER! I am a school bus driver, have over 50 kids on my route and they were all begging me to make these every week. Thank you for this hit recipe!
My family kept asking me to make snickerdoodle cookies but I’ve never made them before. I found this recipe, followed it exactly, and the cookies turned out delicious! I will definitely make again!!
For the cinnamon mixture it says to measure out 1/4 c sugar and 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS cinnamon? Did I read that right? I will be tweaking that part of this recipe…
This is right. The cinnamon does not go in the cookies themselves but instead is used as part of a coating. It won’t make them overly strong.
Delicious!
I do have a question, though. My cookies aren’t “chewy”, they are a bit more on the cakey side. They are still wonderful and I’m happy with them (as is my husband!), just wondering how to get a chewy cookie? This is an on-going quest for me… I did press the cookie before baking, and followed the recipe pretty closely. If anyone has a suggestion, I’d love to hear it.
By the way, found the recommended cooking time to be spot on. I used 10 minutes and it was perfect. Maybe it’s the size of the cookie that’s an issue? Bigger cookie, longer cook time? Or maybe leaving the dough in a ball rather than pressing it down?
I found that baking the cookies for a couple more minutes, like close to 13-15 minutes has a much better outcome! Also the cookies come out a perfect size if you use an ice cream scoop, so try that.
Get a good accurate scale as I weigh all ingredients now. You can thank me later.
Barbara,
Typically cake like cookies are a result of overbeating the mixture, especially the eggs. Also can mean too many eggs were added but seeing you followed the recipe, I would say maybe try to while your butter/sugar less and do the same after the eggs are added.
This recipe is a winner! My cookies were perfectly crispy on the edges, with a tender, slightly chewy center. I did have to increase the bake time considerably- more like 13 minutes rather than the 9-11 shown in the recipe. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing. Yum!
These were great! Perfect texture and balance of flavors!
How many cookies is a serving?
I dropped these in .75oz dough balls (1 rounded tbsp) and made a little over 3 dozen cookies. The first batch I cooked for 12 minutes and they were still a little too doughy. The second batch I cooked longer and they were pretty good. I think the recipe has a bit too much flour, at least it did for my cold, dry climate. My cookie dough wasn’t sticky enough to pick up all that cinnamon sugar goodness. Too much flour is likely why they don’t spread much and need to be flattened before baking. The flavor is good though! Next time I will cut back on the flour a little and bake for 14 minutes and I think they will turn out perfectly. Tip: they’re done when the top just starts to crackle
I must have done something wrong. My “dough” is like cake batter. Theres no way I can roll them into balls. I’ve got it in the fridge right now, but I think I may add a lot more flour. Disappointed.
1st time I tried these ever, awesome recipe and great cookie!!
All-purpose flour, right?
Outstanding. First time I baked Snickerdoodles and I chose the best recipe! I will definitely tell friends about this website. Thank you.
Normally I use my moms recipe for these cookies but I moved recently and could not find it so I am glad I found this one! These were so delicious warm right from the oven. I ran out of sugar and had to use brown sugar and cinnamon to roll the balls in and wow! The brown sugar practically carmelized, sooo good! Thank you for the recipe! I recommend trying the brown sugar for rolling the dough in for a little change or just to try it. I will definitely be using it again. A happy accident😋
I read that as makes 24 cookies instead of 24 servings and doubled it. Somehow I ended up with 140 cookies I was baking for HOURS..however they were absolutely delicious and I did a cookie delivery run to 11 different friends + my favorite teacher. They all said it turned out great, though I didn’t get to eat many myself due to the dessert vacuum that is my siblings. Amazing recipes 🙂
I did the exact same thing for my grad party but I tripled it 🤣 I was baking for ever! They were a major hit though.
Awesome cookies!! My granddaughters helped Grandma make these delicious cookies.
Thank you for sharing😊
They came out perfect! Thank you.
How can i substitute the cream of tar?
I used lemon juice and it worked great! Use an equal serving of lemon juice to cream of tartar
I am a chocolate lover, but have recently ventured into the “non-chocolate” baked goods space. These cookies were SO GOOD – so good, I may even prefer them to chocolate chip cookies! I followed the recipe exactly, except I used raw turbinado sugar. Made 24 cookies. They puffed up, and then flattened a bit when cooling, but definitely didn’t flatten as much as in the pictures on the site. Totally fine though, as the cookies were still amazing. Will definitely make them again! One question: has anyone tried using flax egg or aquafaba?
How many cookies were made? It says 24 servings but from some of the comments, they made a lot.
What a great recipe! Simple and yet delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Love this recipe! I’ve been asked by my daughter’s teacher to make large versions of the cookies for the class to cut for a fraction lesson. Is there anything I can do to make sure these are extra chewy?