Homemade Chewy Snickerdoodles
Recently, I was out with Mr. FG for dinner and I saw a big snickerdoodle cookie at the cash register.
I hadn't had a snickerdoodle in ages, so I decided to give it a try.
Friends, let me tell you:
It was a crushing disappointment of a cookie.
The flavor was kind of ok, but the texture was just all kinds of wrong.
Cookies should not be disappointing...otherwise, what IS the point of eating them??
So I decided I needed to dust off the recipe and make a batch of proper snickerdoodles at home.
They were SO much better. Chewy middles, crispy edges!
I shared this story on Instagram, and much to my surprise, some of my readers didn't know what a snickerdoodle was.
And I got some recipe requests.
I thought snickerdoodles were nearly as common as, say, chocolate chip cookies, so it had never occurred to me to post the recipe!
What IS a snickerdoodle?
It's basically just a sugar cookie that's rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking.
Snickerdoodles usually include cream of tartar as a leavener, and they have crackly tops and a chewy texture.
(At least, they SHOULD. The cookie I got at the restaurant was completely lacking in chewiness!)
I've seen some photos on the internet of snickerdoodles that are taller and sort of cakey looking (here's an example), but I think they should be flat and chewy.
What's with the name of snickerdoodles?
The origin of the snickerdoodle name seems to be a little ambiguous, but the Joy of Cooking says, "Snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means ‘snail dumpling."
Other sources say it's just a fun nonsense name. Who knows?
Regardless, they're really easy to make and I've never met someone who didn't like them.
A few Snickerdoodle tips
- It's very important for your butter to be room temperature or the cookie texture will be wrong.
- Be sure you have fresh cream of tartar on hand.
- To make sure your cookies are chewy, take them out when they still look slightly wet in between the cracks.
- You can freeze the unbaked dough balls for fresh cookies later. I like to freeze half and bake half.
- You can use half shortening and half butter, but I go with all butter.
I hope you enjoy these!
RSS readers: Click here to view this post on my blog, where there's a handy-dandy printable for you.
Snickerdoodles
These cinnamony cookies are easy to make and taste so much better than the store-bought version.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (two sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 ¾ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Cream butter and sugar together; stir in eggs.
- Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to butter mixture and stir until no dry flour remains.
- Mix 2 T sugar and 2 t. cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- Roll dough into 1 ¼ inch balls; roll each ball in cinnamon and sugar to coat, then place on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until barely set. Remove from oven; let cool on cookie sheet briefly, then remove to the counter to fully cool.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
You can freeze the unsugared dough balls so that you can bake fresh cookies multiple times. I let them thaw completely, roll them in cinnamon sugar, and then bake.
Nutrition Information
Yield 48 Serving Size 1 cookieAmount Per Serving Calories 90Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 18mgSodium 71mgCarbohydrates 12gFiber 0gSugar 7gProtein 1g
Here are the steps you can take to make sure your cookie is chewy, to go with what FG has already listed:
- all butter
- long creaming period
- baking chilled dough, rather than room temp dough
- use cool cookie sheets, rather than ones warm from the oven
Yes! Cool cookie sheets are important. Otherwise the dough balls just melt all over before they have a chance to properly set.
We love snickerdoodles at our house. I have made them from scratch but, honestly, everyone loves the Betty Crocker snickerdoodle mix the best! Friends have asked me to bring them to potlucks before, never knowing they were from a mix. And I'll never tell! 🙂
Heh, that's awesome! I got this recipe from my mom, and I think it's from the Betty Crocker cookbook she had when I was a kid.
So, I can imagine that the Betty Crocker mix is somewhat similar to this recipe.
Only eat homemade Snickerdoodles
I’m going to try this recipe. One of the reasons is because you have started adding nutritional info so that people like me - blood sugar challenged - can work cookies into their meal plan. Thanks for making the extra effort to provide the info!
You are welcome! My ad company made a recipe-sharing tool, and included in the tool is a nutritional calculator. So, once I've made a recipe card, I just have to push a button and poof, there's the nutritional information. Yay!
I grew up hearing from my grandparents that snickerdoodles were often made during the depression as they were a cookie without any expensive ingredients.
I love snickerdoodles! I make them often and my recipe is the same as yours! I do chill the dough before rolling them and that makes it a little easier. Also, I have a friend who is allergic to cinnamon. So I roll the first dozen in just sugar, then add cinnamon to it for the rest. She always claims that first dozen for herself, but I have eaten a few and they are very good too!
Oh wow. I've never heard of someone being allergic to cinnamon. That must be a little rough for her, since a lot of things have cinnamon in them.
In the movie The Game Plan, Dwayne Johnson's "Never Say No Joe Kingman" character is allergic to Cimmammimm. Yep I still watch it everytime it pops up on TBS.
Also try Pumpkin Pie Spice for a new twist!!
"Cookies should not be disappointing…otherwise, what IS the point of eating them??"
That may be the best quote, ever. I confess that I am a cookie snob, so I know where you are coming from! In regards to snickerdoodles--I grew up with my mom making them more on the crispy side (I think her recipe is the same as yours--it seems to me that the trend for cookies has changed in my lifetime from crispy to soft and chewy) but I just pull them out of the oven a little sooner to make sure they are softer. If you leave them on the hot baking sheet for a bit, the residual heat will continue to crisp up the bottoms while leaving the middles chewy. Also, I love my Silpat (and my Aldi-brand Silpat) for baking cookies and I think they turn out better. And maybe I'm odd, but I love the slightly tart taste of the cream of tartar in snickerdoodles. Now I think I need to bake ....
I bet I have the Betty Crocker cookbook that your Mom used! Is it red-orange, or is it the blue one? I get many of my basic recipes from there- since I'm older, it's faster for me than looking online. Some of the recipes are a little weird since they try to use affiliated ingredients like specific cereals, in fact, the very first cookie recipe is Ranger Cookies- anyone remember those? Actually pretty good, using Wheaties! Anyway, sometimes I go crazy and sub other spices for the cinnamon, like cardamom, ginger, or nutmeg. Different and good.
Hers was definitely a red-orange shade.
Cardamom snickerdoodles sound so good!
I love Snickerdoodles. I use my grandmother's recipe, she was born in 1899. People always love them. I agree that they are quite inexpensive to make. I also use my grandmother's Ginger Snaps recipes. I'm always surprised by how many people have never had them either.
I have celiac disease so must have gluten free cookies. My recipe is much like this one except it uses 2 2/3 c GF flour. I chill my dough.
We use the same recipe! At Christmas we will roll the dough in red or green sugar for a quick festive cookie to add to a plate.
YAY!!! This is my sons favorite cookie but I have never made them...that I can remember. I am totally going to make some and mail them to him in Seattle where he lives now! He will be so happy. I will make some for us here too because I also love snickerdoodle cookies. What a great post to see. Thank You.
Fascinating! My mother's snickerdoodle recipe (which I think was handed down from her mother) produces the "small dumpling" shape cookie as was pictured in the external link you included. That's what I grew up with, but had never encountered another snickerdoodle like hers. I had begun to wonder if that recipe had been mis-transcribed at some time with it resulting in balls/small dumplings instead of the more traditional cookie shape.
But... apparently, there's two different styles of snickerdoodles! I like your style much better, but it's good to know that my mother's recipe likely doesn't have a transcription error.
I read a biography once, and the author talked about snickerdoodles similar to what you have mentioned. I think she came from Pennsylvania and her family was originally from Wales .... don't know if that has anything to do with it ....
20 years ago, my sister (an elementary teacher at the time) took a plate of 24 Snickerdoodle cookies for her snack day in the teachers lounge, 1/2 rolled as the recipe says above, half with cayenne substituted for the cinnamon.
Ohhh! That would be an awful taste sensation.
Was it April Fools Day?I think I will try to remeber this!
My husbands long time favorite. Thanks for posting!
Re cayenne for cinnamon substitution-- I once accidentally used chili powder instead of cinnamon on cinnamon toast, and it was GOOD. Now I will often mix the two. Need to try that with snicker doodles.
That's so interesting; I would never have thought that that would taste good!
Hi Kristen,
I just need to say something about the "Schneckennudeln".
From german descend, I can assure you this is not the right translation.
The > Schnecken< part should be more translated into spiral (like the shell looks, or think of young Princess Leia`s hair) or rolled, Snail? Shudder.
Otherwise, gf free, all yummy!
Yeah, I don't understand the explanation from Joy of Cooking, because I've never seen a Snickerdoodle that has a spiral shape to it. So odd!
I use America's test kitchen's recipe for snickerdoodles. its great.