The best soft, chewy, and thick Snickerdoodle Recipe, with tender centers and perfectly crisp edges!
Why We Love This Snickerdoodle Recipe
- Foolproof: Easy to follow steps ensure success every time.
- Perfectly Spiced: Just the right amount of cinnamon for the best flavor.
- Melt-in-Your-Mouth: Soft interior with crisp edges.
- Crowd-Pleaser: Loved by all, making them perfect for gatherings and events.
- Tangy Twist: Subtle tanginess from cream of tartar.
Snickerdoodle Recipe Ingredients
- Butter: Opt for unsalted for better salt control.
- Sugar: We’re combining white and brown for the perfect sweetness.
- Eggs: Use 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk for richer flavor.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances overall flavor.
- Flour: Measure accurately for the right consistency.
- Cream of Tartar: Provides tanginess and stabilizes the dough.
- Baking Soda: Helps the cookies rise.
- Cinnamon: Adds extra flavor in both dough and topping.
Quick Tip
Our favorite way to bake? Simply use a kitchen scale to measure ingredients in grams. It eliminates guesswork that can come with less precise measuring using cups.
How To Make This Snickerdoodle Recipe
- Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk melted butter with sugars until smooth. Add remaining wet ingredients.
- Combine dry and wet ingredients.
- Chill dough.
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Roll dough into large balls and coat with a mixture of white sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes,.
- Cool cookies on a rack after resting on sheet for 5 minutes.
Tips For Success
- Correctly measure flour: Measure flour accurately to avoid dry or crumbly cookies.
- Room temperature eggs: Use room temperature eggs for a lighter texture and even dispersion.
- Kitchen Tools: Use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper for this Snickerdoodle Recipe.
- Press edges inwards: After baking, gently press any uneven edges inward with a metal spatula.
- Roll tall cookie dough balls:Roll taller, skinnier dough balls for cookies with crisp edges and a chewy center.
- Keep the dough cold: Maintain cold dough for better texture.
Storage
Storage
- Store Snickerdoodle cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
- Freeze dough balls, place them on a baking sheet until firm, then transfer to a sealed container or freezer bag. Bake straight from the freezer as needed, adding extra a few extra minutes to the baking process.
Variations
Love this Snickerdoodle Recipe? Try our Pumpkin Snickerdoodles or Caramel Snickerdoodles!
More Delicious Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
Snickerdoodle Recipe
This is the ultimate Snickerdoodle recipe! Soft, thick, and chewy with perfectly tender centers and crisp, cinnamon-sugar-coated edges.
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale optional, but recommended!
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper or silicon baking mat
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-3/4 cup flour see note 1
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter, then let cool to room temperature. Ensure it’s not hot to avoid greasy cookies.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, mix melted and cooled butter with granulated and brown sugar until well emulsified. Add whole egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
- Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined, ensuring there are no streaks of flour. Avoid overmixing. Cover dough tightly and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Stir together cinnamon sugar coating ingredients in a small bowl.
- Portion dough into 45-gram balls (2 packed tablespoons) and shape them into tall balls. Roll dough balls generously in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Return shaped dough balls to the fridge for 15–20 minutes or until they firm up.
- Place dough balls on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silicon baking mat with ample spacing (about 6 at a time); bake 9–12 minutes. Avoid overbaking; slight under-baking is ideal! After baking, if any cookies have uneven edges, gently press them inward with a metal spatula. Remove tray from oven and let cookies rest on the sheet 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Proper flour measurement is crucial. Excess flour can lead to dry cookies, while too little can cause spreading. Consider using a kitchen food scale and switch to “metric” for accuracy. Aim for 395 grams of flour for this recipe.
Storage: Keep cookies in an airtight container at room temperature 2–3 days, or freeze cookie dough up to 3 months: Shape dough into balls, roll in cinnamon sugar, and freeze on a sheet pan. Transfer frozen dough balls to an airtight container or bag. When baking from frozen, no need to thaw; bake frozen dough, adding extra minutes as needed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 86mg | Potassium: 53mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 230IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just as described. Perfect instructions and great results. New favorite recipe. Brought them to a barbecue for dessert and they were gone before I placed them on the table. It was all about dessert first!!
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks Maria! 🙂
I love this recipe, highly recommended, I made these when I first started out baking back in 2017, this became one of my most popular recipes around friends and family members. If anyone is wondering I have chilled this longer than an hour before, still taste really good. Thank you, for giving me my now go to snickerdoodle recipe!
So glad to hear it!! Thank you so much Sabrina 🙂
Hi there!
My dough towers keep falling over in the oven. Do you have any tips to avoid this?
Hey! Gently press down the cook dough “tower” so the base is slightly wider than the top but still cylindrical!
Omg – I made these for Christmas and what a hit!!! Was told they were the best Snickerdoodles ever tasted. Thank you!!!
Yay! I am thrilled to hear this! Thanks Sonya! 🙂
Can the cookies be frozen, or just the dough
I recommend the dough. The cookies can be frozen but they do lose a bit of texture and flavor when thawed; still good though!
If you freeze the dough what is the best way to get them ready to bake?
Just bake them from frozen; adding 1-3 minutes!
This has become my go to snickerdoodle recipe! Love it and so easy, definitely a crowd pleaser! 🙂
So glad to hear it! 🙂
I would love to bake these and send them out as part of a care package. Any tips on hope to keep them moist and last longer than 2-3 days? It would take about 2 days priority mail to get there. Can I stick a piece of bread in the container?
Wow these were great! Turned out amazing! I bake a lot and love to find new recipes. Went through set-by-set instructions ( including room temperate eggs and butter, with one separate age yolk, and rolled skinny shaped dough) it was perfect!! Thank you my whole family loved them. This is going in the recipe book.
I’m so happy to hear this! Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂
Absolutely the best ever! Everyone from work loved these! I cant wait to make them again.
So thrilled to hear that!! Thanks for the comment Suzie 🙂
I’ve never made these but they are my husband’s favorite from childhood. He’s diabetic but this year we decided to make them so he could share them with the grandkids. He helped me make them, we had an assembly line going!! He took a bite of one, still slightly warm, his eyes lit up and he looked at me and said “Wonderful!” I asked if they reminded him of Grandma’s and he said it did and that it’s a great cookie. I am telling you his opinion because I have a gluten allergy and can’t eat them but I can bake them with his help, that’s even better!! Thanks for a great cookie recipe and all the great tips!
Thanks so much for sharing Vickie! It made my day to hear 🙂 So happy these cookies were a hit! Merry Christmas!