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
Tried these last night. Was tired of snickerdoodles that call for Crisco and wanted a new version. These turned out absolutely amazing. The while family loved them. They are a new must in our house.
Cookies came out perfect!
I hadn’t made this recipe yet but I’ve made many others from your site and they always turn out great! I’m wondering if you have a recipe for root beer cookies? I had some at a restaurant in Minneapolis, and they had the same texture as snickerdoodles, crispy around the edges but soft and chewy otherwise, and rolled in sugar. Do you think I could use this recipe but omit the cinnamon and add root beer extract to the dough?
Hi Karyn! We would love to hear how it goes if you give that a try.
I loved this recipe! I made it gluten free and it turned out great! It is for sure going in the recipe book!!
Followed steps as listed. Unfortunately, dough is way too dry and crumbly.
I have kept this recipe dear to my heart!! This snickerdoodle recipe has officially gone down in the family secret recipe box!!! They’re that damn good!!
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times, and it tastes delicious! But I did have a couple of questions…the first is my dough always seems to end up too dry. I added a little milk to be able to form it into balls. Is there something I could change to address that? Also, the last batch I made look lovely on the outside but seemed a little too soft on the inside. I actually put them back in the oven for a few minutes. How soft is too soft for the centre of the cookie once cooled? Thanks!
Hi MH, after you mix the wet and dry ingredients together the dough may seem dry and crumbly. But when you roll the cookie dough into balls it should come together and bake up soft and fluffy. Over-baking and using too much flour are the two typical culprits for dry cookies, but it sounds like you didn’t over-bake so that’s likely not the problem here. Make sure you aren’t over-measuring your flour; weigh it with a kitchen scale or use the spoon and level method. And err on the side of under-baking, as the cookies continue to set as they cool. Hope this helps for next time!
Okaaaay… every single recipe I’ve made by sally is amazing. I made these snickerdoodle cookies last night and they’re dangerously addictive lol!
Hello, I was just making these and decided to cut the recipe in half– but I accidentally added the full amount of eggs. I decided to just go ahead with what I had (in the oven right now), but I was wondering what I could do in this situation in the future? Thank you!
Hi Mariana, this is one of the many reasons we recommended sticking with full batches of recipes – it is easy to make mistakes when multiplying or dividing recipes. There’s not much you can do in that situation!
Hi! Just wondering, would it greatly affect the texture of the cookie to replace some of the granulated sugar with brown sugar? Thanks!
Hi Lilo, You can certainly try replacing just some of the sugar. Keep in mind that brown sugar has more moisture than white and may change the consistency of the dough and how the cookies spread. Hope you enjoy them!
Made this at 7000ft and with a couple tweaks it turned out great! I bumped the temp to 400°, decreased sugar by 50g, and added two whole eggs. Made 22 cookies and baked for 10min. Win!
Could I switch out the butter for margarine, have a friend that has a dairy allergy
Hi KM, we don’t recommend margarine here. We haven’t tested it, but a vegan butter may be a better substitute.
My second ever attempt at one of Sally’s recipes and another perfect result! I followed the instructions to a T and I feel like a pro!
These are consistently perfect and so simple to make with no required chill time. I take a shortcut, I scoop and dredge in cinnamon sugar without rolling the dough into a ball and bake with the flat side down. They come out perfectly shaped without having to flatten after they bake
I also had a hard time with the dough being super dry. I had to add the left over egg white to even be able to roll them into balls and it was still too dry when cooked. I also definitely added a little less than 3 cups of flour, so I didn’t over do it on the flour. I do have a question… In the dough are you supposed to add all 1 cup and 1/3 sugar? Or is the 1/3 cup only for the topping? I added 1 cup and 1/3 to the dough and then separately had a bowl with 1/3 cup of sugar topping. The recipe seemed unclear to me and I just kind of guessed about the sugar.
Hi Zoey, after you mix the wet and dry ingredients together the dough may seem dry and crumbly. But when you roll the cookie dough into balls it should come together and bake up soft and fluffy. Over-baking and using too much flour are the two typical culprits for dry cookies, but it sounds like you didn’t over-measure your flour. Did you use the full amount of butter or make any other changes to the recipe? And you did use the correct amount of sugar; it’s 1 and 1/3 cups in the dough and another 1/3 cup for rolling.
It’s good. I made 3 different times now and it’s a bit dry. I made sure to spoon and level the flour too. I just want to clarify if 3 cups all purpose flour is equivalent to 375 grams? Because it’s stated in your ingredients 3cups (375g). For what I know 1 cup is equivalent to 250g already. Hope to hear from you
Hi Mich, thanks for giving these a try! We test all of our recipes multiple times using both metric weights and cups (since that’s standard where we live). While spooning and leveling our flour does get us 125 grams per cup, we always say that “A cup isn’t always a cup, but a gram or ounce is always a gram or ounce!” Basically, when in doubt go by the weight!
I loved this recipe so much…My cookies turned out perfect! Thank you!
Perfect recipe! 10 minutes left a crisp exterior with a chewy interior, no need to cool the dough. Went straight in after rolling in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Everyone at work loved them! Wouldn’t change a thing about the recipe. I had some leftover chai tea latte cinnamon sugar so used that on the exterior but honestly a fool-proof recipe. Def going in my recipe book.
Extremely dry cookie batter. I followed everything as mentioned but couldn’t get the dough to form a ball, so I added the left over egg white and added some more butter. But the finished product remained dry.
Hi Melanie, How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
what is the cook time on these for the mini snickerdoodles recommended for the snickerdoodle cupcakes? mine are about a tsp of dough.
Hi Megan! We make our mini snickerdoodles for garnishing snickerdoodle cupcakes about 2 teaspoons of cookie dough per cookie and bake them for 7 minutes.
This was a great recipe…I made these for.one of my grandsons…they turned out perfect…
Hi, how important is the cream of tartar on this recipe?
Hi Yeimi, You can leave the cream of tartar out or replace with a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice if you wish.
These taste so good! However, mine came out flat. Any advice?
Hi Bree, we have a helpful post here with tips to prevent cookies from spreading. Hope this helps for next time!
Hello Sally. My snickerdoodles turned out dry. What did I do wrong? Did I bake them too long?
Did I “lightly press” too hard? Thanks!
Hi Mark! The most common culprits behind dry cookies are over-baking (keep an eye on them in the oven!) and too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Really good & easy recipe. I found your video for it to show a person new to baking.
Hello! Would it be possible to stuff these with the cream cheese filling from your cream cheese stuffed red velvet cookies? If so, should i make any adjustments to the amount of dough per cookie or baking time? Thanks!
Hi Zizi, you can definitely try that! We aren’t sure if the baking time or amount of dough would need to change, but think you could start with using 1 Tablespoon of dough per cookie, like the stuffed red velvet cookies. Let us know how they turn out!
Hi! Wondering if using cake flour would be a good idea for an extra soft cookie?
Hi Melissa! We don’t recommend cake flour in cookies, it’s too light.
Any tips for converting to gluten free?
Hi Abbey, we haven’t tested these with gluten free flour but let us know if you try it!
Use King Arthurs Gluten Free Baking Mix and they will turn out great!
i noticed that my cookies seemed very buttery, almost greasy. I didn’t weigh how much butter I used but used 2 whole sticks. I did weigh the sugar and the 267g was much closer to 1 cup than 1 1/3 cups so I wonder if that is the cause. I also just used baking mats and light colored baking sheets. I also wonder if maybe they just needed another minute in the oven. Otherwise, super easy and delicious!
Always measure/weigh all ingredients when baking
I was scared of the crumbly dough, but I trusted the process and these turned out perfect!