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: 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: 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.
I’m wondering if there is too much Cream of Tartar? I experienced a bit of unpleasant aftertaste.
Hi Gina, Thank you for trying this recipe. Cream of tarter has a unique tangy taste and the written amount is the correct amount that we use. However, you can certainly try to use a bit less next time!
I followed this recipe exactly and the cookies came out very dry .
Hi Jennifer, when cookie dough is dry, it usually means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. When measuring flour, use the spoon & level method (or use a kitchen scale). Do not scoop the flour out of the container/bag. Thank you for trying this recipe, I hope you find another one you love!
My girlfriend gave me this recipe to try because she said they were delicious. She’s a serious baker so I trust her judgment. She was right!! They were absolutely delicious! I do not understand why some reviews said they were dry. If you follow your recipe , both the ingredients and the instructions, they will not be dry!! They were perfect and I am not an accomplished baker. First time ever making snickerdoodles will definitely be making them again!
Wonderful recipe, similar but better than the Snickerdoodle recipe in my first cookbook, Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. I made one tiny modification. I added 2 tsp of maple flavoring. It gave it a nice mild maple to compliment the cinnamon flavor. These cookies turned out just as expected: soft, chewy, tasty, and did not spread. I always weigh my ingredients in metric. Will be making it again in the future.
Hi Lars, we’re so glad you enjoyed these! If you enjoy maple flavors, you might also enjoy these maple pecan snickerdoodles. Thank you again!
Awesome recipe! Turns out wonderful cookies every time. Soft and chewy just like a snickerdoodle should be!
Not a fan. Came out dry with a weird aftertaste.
Will stick with my old recipe. Normally love all your recipes and wish I had looked at comments beforehand.
Made these twice. The second time, we replaced the cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice for the topping only. Followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Both times, everyone that had one loved it!
I followed the recipe exactly, but the sides were super crumbly and fell apart. I pushed them down while still very hot (within 10 seconds of coming out of the oven), so I don’t know what happened… Should I press them down into thick discs before baking? Then, I will obarely have to press them at all….
Hi Grace, you can certainly flatten the cookie balls a bit before baking. This will help initiate spread. If they were especially crumbly, it’s possible that they were slightly overbaked, too. You can try reducing the bake time by just a minute or so next time. Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to measure your flour, so that it isn’t overmeasured and drying out the cookies. Hope these tips help for next time!
this was my first time making Snickerdoodles, and I loved them so much I gave them to others for Christmas and got so many nice comments about them with some also wanting the recipe … very quick and easy and will certainly be making them again- looked just like they do in the recipe – and are like eating a cinnamon donut in a biscuit – yum!!
I made these for Christmas and was very disappointed. I followed the recipe and instructions to the letter and mine looked nothing like pictured. They were not thick and were fairly dry. I’m sticking to my own old recipe I’ve had for years
Amazing snickerdoodle cookies, came out light, fluffy & exactly like the pictures. With that said I did have a bit of trouble getting my dough to come together despite room temperature butter but i have a cold kitchen here in Montana LOL. Sally would beat me with a spatula for doing this but a quick 15 seconds in the microwave was all I needed to help the dough come together. I did have leftover sugar/cinnamon so sprinkled more on top hot out of the oven. My kids loved that they taste like churros!
Not a fan of this recipe. I’ve definitely made better before.
Not a fan. They came a little dry. I prefer the thin and chewy but it was worth a try. I did like that they didn’t have to be refrigerated but I think the texture of the dough that allows that is what makes them not great for me.
I decided this Christmas to make snickerdoodles for a stocking stuffer for my family and I knew I couldn’t go wrong with using Sally. They came out perfectly and I can’t wait for my family to try them!
I don’t know where I went wrong. They puffed and the flattened into a regular looking snickerdoodle. They taste great anyway, of course.
Should I have chilled the dough balls?
Hi Camilla! Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading – proper room temperature is particularly important.
Worst Snickerdoodles. Dry. What a waste.
Can I add cinnamon chips or would you not recommend?
Absolutely!
I am going to try this recipe for Christmas! I am thinking of adding some additional spice to the cinnamon sugar mixture at the end. Do you think perhaps 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp allspice would work with these? If so, should anything else be added to the dough?
Sounds delicious! We also love to add cardamom, ginger and allspice like we do in our chai snickerdoodles.
Does the 1 1/3 cup sugar in the ingredients include the 1/3 required for topping?
Hi JoAnn! 1 and 1/3 cups sugar goes into the dough, and additional 1/3 cup sugar is used in the topping.
Love this one – have made it many times! Would the recipe need to be adjusted to make this into cookie bars/a cookie cake? Thanks!
Hi Lindsay! You could try these as bars in a 9×13 inch pan. We are unsure of the best bake time.
Best snickerdoodle ever. Have shared it with many and they all love it.
I usually love your recipes but when I doubled this one it just came out SUPER crumbly. I even added an extra egg to see if that would help it stick to no avail. Is this just a recipe that can’t be doubled?
Hi Skye! For best taste and texture, we always recommend making separate batches.
These were perfect and beyond easy to make. Followed the recipe exactly, but I added 1 more minute of cooking time. Brought them for my work cookie exchange and they were a hit! Thanks Sally ❤️
These cookies are are the best I have ever made and eaten. Made some yesterday and making more today.
I made these today and they turned out PERFECT. I made a batch using Chai spice too, they are SO good! Thank you for this recipe.
I baked the best Snickerdoodles ever! I can’t wait to give these as gifts
Seriously the best snickerdoodle I’ve EVER made! Can’t believe I was able to achieve the soft, thick cookie. Super easy recipe to follow! Mine look pretty, but I can never get them to look as beautiful as the photos attached! Not sure why. Delicious, none the less!!
My cookies didn’t look like your picture at all, they expanded so much they touched each other and were very flat. I was very disappointed
Hi Sylvie, happy to help! Was your butter a bit warmer than room temperature? That’s often the main culprit for over spreading cookies. This post with 10 tips to prevent cookies from over spreading will also be a helpful resource to review. Hope this helps!
Great recipe! Easy, quick and delicious. Thanks!
Wowwwww!!!! The is is my first time making snickerdoodles, these were the best I ever had, so proud of myself for making them soft and chewy. Thank you for sharing!!
I love this recipe! Perfect snickerdoodles every time.
Also, I doubt you’ve tried this but would you think this would be okay if switched the regular butter with vegan butter?
Hi Sam, we haven’t tested this recipe with a plant-based butter, but please do let us know if you try it. So glad these are a favorite for you!
I always make these with vegan butter and it turns out great! 🙂