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, peanut butter snickerdoodles, chocolate snickerdoodles, and snickerdoodle blondies. And are you craving cake? Here’s my snickerdoodle cake & swirled snickerdoodle cupcakes recipes.
This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!
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 (16 Tbsp; 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 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.
- Make the topping: Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi ! If we don’t have a mixing bowl, can we just use our hands or is there another more efficient way to mix the ingredients ? Thanks !
The perfect snickerdoodle. Patting the cookies with a spoon makes all the difference!
I made these and they turned out great! I couldn’t wait for them to cool and tried one hot out of the oven. I was worried they were too raw so I gave them another 3 minutes. In hindsight, they would have been perfectly soft and just that right underbaked texture if I stuck to the 10 mins of the recipe. Also, I baked them in 2 batches and the second batch that waited on the counter seemed to dry it out a bit so it needed less time. I’m not sure the science behind that though. It’s a great recipe and doesn’t need any tweaking!
I made these cookies but mine didn’t come out soft. They taste great otherwise.
This is a very good recipe the only question is I’ve been baking for years and I always use 120 g for one cup of flour unless my math is wrong three cups of flour is 320 g in your recipe you have 375. So when I look it up I go to King Arthur resource and it writes that one cup of flour is 120 g so I’m just wondering if that is a mister thank you very much I love all your recipes.
Hi Tim, The weights we give with our recipes are how we test them, so we recommend following them for best results. We measure 125g per 1 cup of spooned and level flour.
I love this recipe, but the bottoms always end up burnt, what do I do?
Hi Layla, are you over-baking them by chance? If not, it could be that your baking sheet is too close to a bottom heating element in your oven. You could try baking them on a higher rack, or else placing a second baking sheet on the rack below, to help shield the bottom of your baking sheet from the bottom heating element. Another cause could be your baking sheet itself. We find that cookies brown more/faster when baked on dark-colored baking sheets vs. silver light-colored baking sheets. We also recommend using a silicone baking mat, if possible. Hope these tips help fix the issue!
If I just have large eggs, should I use 2 large egg yokes? Thanks
Hi Barb! This recipe calls for large eggs, so just follow the recipe with 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk.
These cookies are my favorite snickerdoodles!! I just made them again today and I added cinnamon chips this time and just letting you know. It works. Still perfect!
Hi Sally & team, I am a huge fan of this snickerdoodle recipe! Wanting to make lots for my Holiday cookies. Can I double all ingredients to make a double batch? Thank you!
Hi Emma, you can double this recipe. So glad you love it!
My dough was very dry (crumbly) I could get it to form a ball. They taste good just curious if this Is that how they are? I followed the recipe exactly as written. I also weigh my ingredients so I know it wasn’t to much flour.
Hi Ang, after you mix the wet and dry ingredients together the dough may seem dry and crumbly. But when you roll them into balls they should come together and bake up soft and fluffy.
Thanks, that is what I experienced.
Absolutely the best snickerdoodle cookie!! Thank you!!!
I had given up on finding a Snickerdoodle recipe that didn’t come out flat, but this one turned out perfect! This will be my only Snickerdoodle recipe from now on.
My cookies always come out flat. What am I doing wrong.
These snickerdoodles are delicious! A family favorite.
Would it be possible to make these into a bar cookie?
Hi KWT, you could try these as bars in a 9×13 inch pan. We are unsure of the best bake time. Hope you enjoy them!
My son could not quit eating these until they were all gone. They are so good and easy to make, I sprinkled extra cinnamon and sugar over the top when they came out of the oven.
As someone who loves snickerdoodles and has tried at LEAST seven recipes…. these are the best cookies I’ve ever made. My problem with a lot of snickerdoodles is that I like a thicker cookie and a lot of them end up super thin, but I’ve just found my holy grail, my white whale, my favorite cookie recipe ever. Thank you SO much. If I could give 20 stars, I would.
This cookies are very delicious . First time trying snickerdoodle cookies but I noticed on your video they don’t seem to flattened out mine came out twice that I made them different days always come out flat like pancakes and spread. There delicious just doesn’t look as thick and round as yours. Any idea what it could be?
Thank you
Hi Icey, we have a helpful post here with tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps for next time!
I just made them too. My first batch did the same, then I stuck the dough in the fridge and some were thick on the outside and then caved in
Perfect cookie, same as the chocolate chip cookie. Made them both this weekend and this was the favorite by .1 % – I never modify anything since I’m not really a cook or a baker, every recipe I have done so far from Sally has been wonderful.. so now I only make cookies from this site. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Melissa!
Hello, can you use cookier cutters on this recipe?
Hi Sarah, we don’t recommend it. You could add cinnamon to our sugar cookies, if you would like!
I would like to make chocolate snickerdoodle, can I modify this recipe ?
Hi Meredith! We haven’t tested a chocolate version of this cookie, but you can add 1-1.5 cups of chocolate chips into this cookie dough after you combine the wet and dry ingredients without making any other changes. Let us know if you try anything!
So many saying they turned out flat and same reply to everyone to read what makes a cookie flat which most know. All of those people can’t be doing it wrong. Makes me hesitant to even try them. Can’t stand a flat cookies. Also want to freeze but another comment was she chilled dough and again flat cookies.
If I wanted to make the cookies 1/3 the size, would the temperature and time change?
Hi Judy, We would just shorten the bake time a bit for smaller cookies. Keep a close eye on them!
Living in the UK I’d never heard of these cookies, but I baked a batch at my daughters request. I followed the recipe exactly and they were delicious! Very Christmassy. They will definitely be staple in our house from now on.
I made these cookies and everyone loved them. Can I make them smaller and still get the same great taste?
Hi Marcella, we’re so glad you love these! We would just shorten the bake time a bit for smaller cookies. Keep a close eye on them!
These are DELICIOUS! But why do mine spread out?????? Yours are twice as thick as mine.
Hi Lisa, we have a helpful post here with tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps for next time!
I love i
Finally! A recipe that doesn’t result in pancake snickerdoodles. Thank you so much. Delish!
Why are my cookies turning out flat. I followed the directions perfect.
Hi Nancy! Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading.
Hey! I was wondering what the 2022 update was. Has the recipe changed? My son loves these cookies and we try to make these every year during the holidays.
Hi Sasha, We are so glad your son loves these cookies. Sometimes we update the photos in the post and make the recipe instructions more clear (like this update). If the actual recipe changes we will tell you what the changes are in the post. Hope this helps!
Hi! I was just wondering if the temperature stated would be the same for an electric oven (fan forced)?
Hi Lily, our recipes are all written for the conventional bake setting, not fan/convection, so if you need to adapt for a fan-forced oven, I recommend lowering the temp by about 25ºF.
I must say, easy recipe & cookies turned out perfect. But I guess I don’t like Snickerdoodles. I didn’t think they had any real flavor, kind of blah.
This recipe is my go to!! The cookies are so fluffy and delicious! Thank you so much!