Here is my reader favorite recipe for soft and thick snickerdoodles. These soft-baked snickerdoodle cookies only require about 30 minutes start to finish!
Snickerdoodles are a timeless classic, just like a good batch of chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter cookies. Like drop sugar cookies wrapped in a cinnamon sugar hug, these irresistible cookies never go out of style. My recipe yields the softest and thickest snickerdoodles you’ll ever taste. I like to call them snickerdoodle pillows because they are perfectly fat and puffy! Much too often you’re left with flat, crispy, and thin cookies. The only remedy is to submerge them in a tall glass of milk. But what about starting out with a kitchen tested recipe for soft-baked snickerdoodles? You’ve come to the right place. 🙂
How to Make Soft Snickerdoodles
How do you make snickerdoodles puffy and soft? The secret’s in the ratio of butter to leavener to flour to egg. Don’t use shortening here; you’ll miss the flavor of butter. Slightly under-baking the snickerdoodles also guarantees a softer cookie. Take them out of the oven after about 10-11 minutes. This will keep the interior of the cookie soft and chewy.
Why is Cream of Tartar in Snickerdoodles?
Instead of baking powder, use cream of tartar and baking soda in snickerdoodles. Sure, you could use 2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the cream of tartar + baking soda, but then you won’t really have a snickerdoodle. Cream of tartar adds a unique tangy flavor to the cookie, which sets it apart from sugar cookies and makes it a classic snickerdoodle. You also use it for the best flavor in maple pecan snickerdoodles. It’s absolutely delicious!
No Cookie Dough Chilling!
Great news! You can skip the cookie dough chilling step with this snickerdoodle recipe. There’s enough flour in this cookie dough to create a strong and sturdy cookie without the crutch of chilling the dough first. There’s also no fancy-pants ingredients required. These snickerdoodles are EASY. Shortbread cookies are another easy no chill recipe to keep in your back pocket.
A medium cookie scoop is helpful to divide up the dough. Roll each dough ball in cinnamon sugar, and arrange on a lined baking sheet:
These snickerdoodle cookies aced the true “soft test” meaning they remained soft on day 2! In fact, they were still soft on day 4. (And I’m surprised there are any leftover by that point, but I was trying to make a point!) Since they remain so soft, snickerdoodles are the perfect cookie for gift-giving. I know there are many snickerdoodle lovers out there!
If you’re looking for other snickerdoodle favorites, here are my pumpkin snickerdoodles and peanut butter snickerdoodles. And are you craving cake? Here’s my snickerdoodle cake & swirled snickerdoodle cupcakes recipes.
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Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 26-28 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Here is my reader favorite recipe for soft and thick snickerdoodles. These soft-baked snickerdoodle cookies only require about 30 minutes start to finish! No dough chilling required.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/3 cup (267g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 1/3 cup (70g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (always recommended for cookies). Set aside.
- Make the topping: Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- Make the cookies:Â Whisk the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different parts. The dough will be thick.
- Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons (35g) of cookie dough each. I recommend this cookie scoop. Roll the dough balls in cinnamon-sugar topping. Sprinkle extra cinnamon-sugar on top if desired. Arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets.
- Bake cookies for 10 minutes. The cookies will be very puffy and soft. When they are still very warm, lightly press down on them with the back of a spoon or fork to help flatten them out. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies remain soft & fresh for 7 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: There are a few options here! First, you can prepare the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Make sure that you let it come to room temperature before rolling and baking the cookies. You can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Roll the dough into balls then freeze the balls for up to 2-3 months. You can freeze the cookie dough balls with the cinnamon sugar coating or without, but I recommend freezing without the topping. When you are ready to bake, remove the balls from the freezer, let sit for 30 minutes, pre-heat the oven, then roll into topping. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Cream of Tartar:Â Cream of tartar is required for this recipe. Please see the text of the post for more information.
- Extra Egg Yolk: To bring this dough together so it isn’t quite as crumbly use 1 large egg, plus 1 extra large egg yolk. I’ve been doing this recently and the snickerdoodles taste even softer, moister, and richer.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
This is the best snickerdoodle recipe ever!
Highly recommended!
These are the best Snickerdoodles! I made them a couple of weeks ago and everyone loved them. I did make them a little larger, I used a two tablespoon scoop, but that wasn’t a problem. Now I need to make them for my coworkers.
OMG!! So good. Have made them a few times and always a hit.
I do not comment often, but, I had to with this one! Absolutely fantastic cookie! I used about 2 1/2cups flour! Perfect!
I made these with European style butter, otherwise everything else to the letter, weighing the flour. They came out flat as a pancake. Do you think it’s the higher fat content in the butter I used? And if I make them again switch the same butter should I try increasing the flour? The dough was fairly stiff and crumbly.
Hi Mary, European style butters often aren’t ideal for baking smaller items with short bake times such as cookies and cupcakes. Larger items like quick breads are usually fine, but these higher fat butters create excess spread in cookies. It, of course, depends on the brand and recipe you are using but that’s our general experience. For future batches, we’d recommend another brand of butter if you have it available to you! Here are all our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading, too.
I followed this recipe exactly as written. My cookies were flat, thin and crispy. Not soft, thick and puffy. What did I do wrong?
Hi Becky, was your butter super soft or melted in the slightest? Make sure it’s softened, but not greasy at all. Letting it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour is usually plenty. Adding more flour can also help, such as another 1/4 cup of 31g. Let me know if you try that.
I’m 52 and never baked cookies, but always wanted to. I tried this recipe and the chocolate chip cookie recipe. Purchased every tool you recommended and followed both recipes exactly as instructed. Both of them came out PERFECT!! THANK YOU for the boost of confidence and GREAT tasting cookies! I hope to try more of your recipes and begin “gifting” cookies. I’m so happy I found your website and helpful hints to be a successful baker. Thank you!
Hi Cindy, Thank you for giving these a try! We’re so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Happy baking!
Your recipe was suggested on Reddit as what the OP should try for their very thin cookies. Then someone suggested Snickerdoodle waffles and I thought I’d ask you, can you make them? I think many of us would love them. Here’s a link to those cookies and your recipe being suggested. You’ve got a large following on Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBaking/s/sN0o7pyS89
I tried this recipe, omg!!! I’m being asked for it repeatedly by my family and I had doubled it. I also converted the recipe to Metric as weighing ingredients is more precise. If you need, try baking calculator converter https://bakingcalculators.com/convertrecipe/Default.aspx
Perfect cookies every time
Who doesn’t love a soft, thick cookie! These snickerdoodles are the best.
The texture turned out perfect! I used my usual silicone baking mat, and it was tricky to tell when the cookies were done because they didn’t brown at all on the bottom. I’ll definitely keep this recipe on hand!
I made this recipe exactly as written, and weighed my dough to 35g/cookie, as suggested, and it yielded 27 cookies. The yield says 26-28. Sounds like you may have made your cookies smaller than the recipe suggested.
I haven’t made snickerdoodles in years, made these today and my only complaint is that I don’t know where they all went!
Absolutely gorgeous, fluffy, chewy deliciousness
Sally’s baking recipes have always been my go-to for my recent baking hobby. I tried this recipe but instead of rolling it into balls, I inserted it into heart molds and it came out amazing!! I always give away my baked goods and a lot of people loved them 🙂
These have great flavor, but were too dry (I had trouble getting the sugar to stick to the dough when I rolled the cookies in it). I added 2T additional butter & used 2 whole large eggs. This worked a lot better.
These turned out great for me! I am gf so I used King Arthur 1-to-1 flour. Measuring by weight worked well. I definitely took them out right at 10 min since gf can tend to be drier and they were moist. Will make again, thanks Sally!
Is it possible for this recipe to be cut in half? If so how many eggs/egg yolks should I use?
Hi Drew, Our general rule for halving an egg (or egg yolk) is to crack it open, beat the yolk and white together with a fork (or just the yolk if just measuring the yolk), measure the volume (should be a few Tbsp), then use half.
Great recipe.
Had the oven at the correct temp ( always use an oven thermometer nowadays as I’ve had too many issues in the past ) but they came out very pale and not quite cooked in the centre. Had to add an extra few minutes baking time but they came out looking as they should and didn’t affect the taste or texture.