World’s Best Snickerdoodles

Name a better baking spice combination than cinnamon and sugar. Go ahead, I’ll wait… It’s not possible, right? And nowhere does this duo feature better than on a snickerdoodle cookie! Snickerdoodles are kind of a strange cookie in that people either know what they are and love them, or they’ve never eaten one before and they’re not sure what they are beyond a crazy name. Well, I’m here to tell you all about them and the best way to bake them at home. Let’s get our spices on.

Snickerdoodles are soft vanilla cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar and then baked. Our current favorite place to purchase snickerdoodle cookies locally is in the Pike Place market in Seattle, and the taste of their cookies is what I have attempted to recreate in my own recipe here. I think I’ve gotten it down to a science, and now I don’t have to make the trek into the city for this classic treat anymore! They’re crispy on the edges, but soft in the middle, with a healthy dose of cinnamon and sugar in every bite. They’re one of my favorites to enjoy with a cup of coffee in the morning.

There are a lot of fun elements to baking snickerdoodles, not the least of which is that they’re great for little kids to help out with! These cookies need to be rolled in cinnamon and sugar just before baking, which is a perfect task to occupy little hands that want to help. Beyond that, there’s a couple easy tips to share that will set you on the path to soaring snickerdoodle success (and I clearly can’t resist a good alliteration).

Tips for Perfect Snickerdoodles

• Make sure your ingredients are fresh. Specifically, you want fresh baking soda and fresh cream of tartar. You can test your baking soda for freshness by sprinkling some into a small bowl of water. If it’s still good, it should foam up as soon as it hits the water.
• Some people dust their cookies with cinnamon sugar, or shake the two in a bag together to coat the cookie balls. I’ve found that using a bowl and gently rolling your cookie dough gets the best coverage and keeps your cookies in a nice round shape without having to re-roll them.
• Watch your bake times! I have found that the perfect amount of time to bake these cookies is 8 minutes and 30 seconds. So I set a timer for 8 minutes and then count to thirty before I open the oven door.
• Start taking the cookies off the baking sheet about 30 seconds after they come out of the oven and let them cool on the rack. It’s a bit counter intuitive since usually you want to give cookies several minutes to cool before you move them, but you want these guys to stop cooking once they’re out of the oven.  They might look very soft or almost unbaked in the middle, but they will firm up to a nice soft center and the crisp edges we all want.
• If you’re having trouble removing the hot cookies from the baking sheet, try using the thinnest metal spatula you have rather than a nice silicone one.. If you don’t have a thin metal one, it’s okay to leave them on the sheet until they are stable enough to move across. Just keep an eye on them and move them as soon as it’s possible for you to do so.

Alright, with all the nitty gritty out of the way, let’s get baking!

World's Best Snickerdoodles

The best snickerdoodle recipe ever, from But First, Cookies!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 minutes mins

Total Time 18 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 2 dozen

Ingredients

  

Cookie Dough

• 2 3/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour all purpose
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup softened butter salted
• 2 eggs large
• 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar granulated
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• 3 Tbsp sugar granulated
• 4 tsp cinnamon ground

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, blend together the softened butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well combined.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in thirds, mixing until just combined after each addition. Do not overmix!
• In a small bowl, combine the 3 Tbsp sugar and 4 tsp cinnamon.
• Roll 1-2 Tbsp of dough into balls. Roll in the small bowl of cinnamon/sugar and place onto parchment paper about 2 inches apart. 
• Bake 8 minutes and 30 seconds.  Remove from oven, wait 30 seconds, and then remove from baking sheet and allow to cool on a baking rack. 

Keyword cinnamon, cookies, snickerdoodle

And that’s all there is to baking your new favorite cookie. I told you that it was just that easy! Make sure to let me know in the comments if you have any questions and tell me how you enjoyed this recipe! See you again soon, and happy baking!