Snickerdoodle – Cinnamon Sugar Cookie goodness
Our popular snickerdoodle cookies recipe from 2009 has a new video and photo update. It’s soft, chewy and slightly crispy on the edges. You might just eat 2-3 cookies in one helping. Enjoy.
Watch our Yummy Snickerdoodle Cookie Video
It was for another addition to our deep-dish-a-la-mode-cookie repertoire, aka pizookies. Aka I-can’t-stop-eating-these-cookies. However, there was one minor problem. I had no snickerdoodle cookie recipe for the dough that I wanted to use. There were no snickerdoodle recipes in any of my go-to dessert cookbooks, no family recipes, no nada.
So I embarked on a little snickerdoodle cookie cyber research quest to discover the beauty behind these tasty cinnamon sugar cookies. I knew very well of how snickerdoodle cookies should taste, but there was a particular element to snickerdoodle cookies that I couldn’t place my tongue on. It wasn’t long before I started seeing a trend in the different recipes to see what that element was, cream of tartar. You know, that little white powder so many of us have in our spice drawers and always wonder what the hell it is used for.
Turns out cream of tartar is a cast off from wine making and also primary element in many brands of baking powder. It is actually an acid salt that can help stabilize eggs and impart a slight acidic taste when used in cooking such as in snickerdoodle cookies. It’s that little extra element that contributes to the texture and lends a particularly unique flavor element to the cookies. Fascinating, really, but I still didn’t have any damn snickerdoodle recipe. Many of the snickerdoodle cookies recipe I found online were very good, like Shuna’s snickerdoodle recipe that she contributed Simply Recipes, but I was already in serious “Snickerdoodle” recipe mode and wanted to play with my own creation.
So, I decided to embark upon something I’ve never done before, create a snickerdoodle cookie recipe from scratch.
I’ve always relied upon others’ recipes for a start point and then have tweaked if needed to make the recipe to my personal preference. However I was feeling inspired. Part because my cookie mojo has been flowing lately, hence all the cookie related posts, and part by Michael Ruhlman’s new book Ratio. I haven’t had the chance to read his book yet, but the principal is brilliant. By understanding the basic ratio of a recipe, you will gain the freedom of cooking and creating using your own knowledge and taste, rather than a specific recipe.
I’m such a cookie freak that I have many of my cookie recipes memorized. Now instead of thinking about the recipes’ ingredients as individual numbers, I analyzed their ratios. Patterns developed and before long I was crafting a recipe from scratch. A good snickerdoodle should be soft with a touch of crispness on the edges, so I combined a bit of lard to accompany the butter for the fats in the recipe. Lard gives a great soft texture, but the butter gives the best flavor and a better crispness. I mixed brown and white sugars to give a little more dimension to the flavor and took advantage of our well stocked pantry by bringing out the Vietnamese cinnamon that we brought home from our visit to north and central Viet-Nam last fall.
How did the snickerdoodle cookie recipe turn out? I have to be honest, it was damn perfect! The best snickerdoodle cookies I’ve ever tasted. The texture, even when cooled was perfect, the flavor great, and the Vietnamese cinnamon is a divine finishing touch. The snickerdoodle cookies will still be great even with regular cinnamon, but I can’t stop making it with our little cinnamon spice luxury. Even the “freezing the dough test” was a success so we now have another snickerdoodle cookie dough we can grab out of the freezer whenever we are feeling cookie-ish. And the pizookie idea… as brilliant as I had hoped it would be.
“What!?! What is the pizookie idea?” you may be asking. Ha ha ha ha! I’m too bratty to reveal all the tricks in one post.
You’ll have to tune-in later in the week to find out the next episode of the “Pizookie Files.” Although if you were one of our Twitter followers then you were already given the inside scoop by Diane last week. Lucky devils.
-Todd
Hope everyone enjoys these as much as we do. I had to make a third batch just for the final shots. We ate all of the first 2 batches before we could shoot it!
Update for this snickerdoodle cookies recipe – we baked and photographed this recipe to different stages of doneness to show how the look of the cookie can vary. In some of the photographs above, you’ll see the cookies a little less thick and less “crackly”. Those were baked a bit less and were deliciously soft. The other photographs were cookies that were baked a bit longer and have a slightly crisper edge, yet were soft in the middle. They will come out a bit thicker and more “crackly”. We love both variations so bake to which ever way you like best.
Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated Sugar
- 2/3 cup (150 g) packed Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted Butter , softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50 g) Vegetable Shortening or Lard , softened to room temperature
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 1/3 cups (300 g) unbleached, all-purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 g) Cream of Tartar
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) Baking Soda
- 1 Tablespoon (15 5) Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup (100 g) Cinnamon Sugar mix (1 part cinnamon, 3 parts sugar ratio)
Instructions
- Combine sugar, brown sugar, butter and lard in a mixing bowl. Beat until creamed and light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and salt and mix until fully incorporated.
- Sift or whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and cornstarch together until evenly combined.
- Gently mix the flour mixture into butter mixture. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes-1 hour, or until the dough is chilled enough to easily handle and will hold a ball shape when formed.
- Freezing Option: roll dough into a log and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze. When ready to use, thaw for about 30 minutes, then continue with recipe.
- Pre-heat oven to 350° F (325° F convection bake). Line a couple baking sheet pans with a silpat or parchment paper.
- Put cinnamon sugar mix into a bowl. Gently form dough into a small ball (about the size of a walnut) then roll in cinnamon sugar mix. Place balls on the lined sheet pans. Make sure to give plenty of room between cookies since they spread a bit.
- Bake each sheet tray at 350° F (325° F convection bake) for 11-14 minutes. They should be light golden on the edges. It is better to slightly under-bake than to over-bake these cookies.
- Cookies will be puffy coming out of the oven and after about 15 minutes of cooling they will settle and crinkle.
Hello – this recipe sounds tasty and looks fantastic! One question – is there a particular reason why you add the salt prior to the dry ingredients rather than mixing it in along with the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and cornstarch? Thanks!
Hi Amy. Good question. It is a habit of mine because I am always using sea salt in the recipes and many flakes don’t make it through the sifter. I’ve made many cookie recipes playing with adding salt in with the dry ingredients then remaking the recipe and adding the salt before the dry ingredients, and it doesn’t seem to affect the recipe either way. So it just seems easier and more logical to put the salt in first, then run the other dry ingredients directly through the sifter into the batter. Todd.
Wow!! What a nice blog and beautiful photos as well. Your snicker doodles looks delicious. I’ll must to try your recipe
Gorgeous photos and amazing way to explain Ratios to dessert fearful people like me. I am definitely going to get Ruhlman’s book so that I can set myself free of all that mathematical fear and get cooking. In the meantime, I’ll be in my kitchen with your snickerdoodle recipe and fresh-from-the-oven cookies in my hand!
xoxo
Brooke
Thanks for all the sweet comments everyone!
Maria-Thanks!
Kate-Did you get the whole sticks? Crazy. If you eat them straight it is like a red hot!
Lisa-Awww. I’m blushing.
Gastronomer-Hope he loves them!
ravenouscouple-I think you meant this one on the chili post! No worries.
sharon-Thanks.
Hélène-Lucky little twitter follower. Diane leaks all the secrets!
Rachael-Sorry for the continued torture! But I’m not stopping 😈
Manggy-If it didn’t take so long to get over to you we’d send you some right now!
grace-I’ll get the towels ready!
jo-Thank you very much. Snickerdoodles are as much fun to eat as they are to say!
Patricia-Thank you!
Howard-I think from how some of our Aussie customers described cinnamon snaps, these are softer. Don’t happen to know of a good recipe for cinnamon snaps, do you?
Alisa-Thanks!
krysta-The lard definitely helps with the softness. I usual don’t like having to use too many different ingredients, but I really think if was the key to their texture. I’d love to hear how they come out for you!
The Duo Dishes-We wish everyone had the change to try true Viet cinnamon. It’s really incredible.
Jen-Awwww. We are so glad Michael has helped open up this concept to so many people with his latest book. It really helps understand principles behind recipes.
Quyen-I hope not. It would be freakish for a guy to be pregnant! Diane’s mom keeps harassing us to have a baby! She want “McBaby” Translation- mixed baby, interracial grandkid! Twin girls to be specific. This isn’t Burger King you know. You can’t order it your way!
Mrs L.-Same problem I usually had. Hard to find someone who makes them really well. We think this recipe rocks! Hope you take the time to try it and share your thoughts.
Sirena-Thanks. Sorry about the mess. It looks like our recipe archives is going to need an overhaul. Still contemplating the best way to do it. If there is any recipe you need, just send us an email!
desiree-Angel food cake sounds divine right now! Especially grandma made.
cheffresco-Compliments of the garden, styling by Diane. Nice touch, huh!
Katie- Oooooh! That sounds tasty!
Cheryl-I’d love to hear how they turn out for you. Have a little cookie throw down with Martha 😉
Maya-Thanks
The Italian Dish-It totally does. It gets us away from blindly following instructions and gets us thinking in the kitchen. Cookie addict may be a more appropriate term!
susan g-Thanks. Would love to hear how you are used to seeing them!
Eat. Travel. Eat!-The Viet cinnamon gives a whole new dynamic, although you can give the same look with microplaning regular cinnamon sticks. I like rolling the dough in the cinnamon as well, but for a thicker cinnamon sugar coating, sprinkling the cinnamon sugar is a great alternative.
Thanks for sharing and visiting everyone. Remember to feed that sweet tooth. Happy teeth smile more often! -Todd
I haven’t eaten snickerdoodles in a long time, and these look really good! So round and so beautiful :).
I like how your technique of putting the dough in the rough cinnamon sugar. It makes the final product look very interesting.
The snickerdoodles of my childhood are in the Betty Crocker Cookbook, from the 50’s. Yours look beautiful — but different!
I love Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio book. It just makes so much sense to use this as an approach to baking. I’m clipping your cookie recipe – you are a true cookie aficionado!
Good info on cream of tartar..Another bookmarked recipe 😉
I only had these for the first time, in Los Barilles, Mexico of all places, over Christmas. This recipe looks a lot better than my first attempt with a Martha recipe. Thanks.
Can I just tell you that if you add Hersey’s cinnamon chips to any snickerdoodle recipe, you will be in the most glorious heavenly rush ever?
Yum! I love your pretty pictures with the roses 🙂
Snickerdoodles are a favorite at my house. I haven’t made them in a while…time to break out the cookie sheets! Thanks for the cream of tartar. My grandmother made the most wonderful frosting using cream of tartar. She used to top off an angel food cake with it…It was my favorite.
These look great! I’ll add them to my ever-growing list of recipes to try. In the meantime, I can’t wait til all the links on your site are working again! I miss being able to browse through all the great links in your archives and enjoy the lovely photos and recipes you feature.
I bought a snickerdoodle cookie from a bakery a few weeks ago and it just did nothing for me. I told myself I need to learn to make my own. Thank you for doing all the work for me, I’ll have to try these.
A little off subject, but are ya’ll pregnant? Expecting a girl maybe? You have been doing a lot of cookie and dessert posts. Lucky us!
I absolutely admire that you created this recipe from scratch! I must get my hands on “Ratio” and some Cream of Tartar…