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.
This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!
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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 (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 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’ve been using your recipes since I found your website. I absolutely love how you’re baking and
every recipe I’ve tried seems to work out well. Thank you for all the great recipes.
These cookies are everything you claim them to be. I followed the directions and my family could not get enough of these moist cookies. I had to make 2 batches the next day for the family and 1 to go to a job site. Follow the recipe and you will be delighted.
We’re so glad you enjoy these cookies, Tammie!
Really enjoyed this recipe. They almost taste like cinnamon toast crunch in a cookie. It’s a fabulous recipe. I did add 2 tsp. of cornstarch to make them even softer 😉
Can I make these into bars instead of cookies, or are there any ingredient alterations?
Hi Emily, you could try these as bars in a 9×13 inch pan. We are unsure of the best bake time. Hope you enjoy them!
This recipe did not turn out well for me and I followed instruction. The cookies were crumbly and tasted just like pie crust. I even lightly smashed them down with the back of a spatula after the first batch came out of oven. Then second batch I formed the cookie in my hand before putting in sugar cinnamon. They came out looking better but even hubby said they were too crumbly. I made an icing for the top to try to salvage them. I don’t recommend these.
Hi Tami, If they were especially crumbly, it’s possible that they were slightly overbaked. You can try reducing the bake time by just a minute or so. Be sure to also spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to measure your flour, so that it isn’t over measured and drying out the cookies. Hope these tips help for next time!
The flavor of these cookies is spot on! Unfortunately they did not stay thick and puffed – I even popped them in the freezer 10+ mins to try to avoid spreading. I baked them for about 10 mins and they are very light in color. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Alison, here are all of our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading – proper room temperature butter is particularly important. Thank you for giving these cookies a try!
Could I use this as a cobbler topping. Cant find the cookie mix in any store.
Hi Lauren, we haven’t tested these cookies as a cobbler topping, but let us know if you do.
Can you use cinnamon emulsion and if yes how much? Would you substitute vanilla emulsion for the vanilla extract?
Hi Liz, you can use a vanilla emulsion in place of the extract if you wish. You could also try adding some cinnamon emulsion—we’d start small (about 1/2 teaspoon or so) and then adjust for future batches. Enjoy!
Delicious cookie! Dough a little too sticky. Didn’t correct, maybe should have added a little flour
Perfect cookies I love all the recipes from your site
Is there a way to half this recipe? Since only 1 egg and 1 yolk is needed? I don’t need so many cookies and only 12-14 would be perfect for me!
Hi Amber, yes, feel free to halve the recipe for a smaller yield. Our general rule for halving an egg is to crack it open, beat the yolk and white together (or just the yolk for the egg yolk that is called for in this recipe) with a fork, measure the volume (should be a few Tbsp), then use half. Or, it may be easier to simply make the full recipe and freeze some of the leftover dough for a later date. Enjoy!
So delicious and thick. Best cookies I’ve ever had!
Best Snickerdoodles I have ever made!
I made mine with about 1/2 – 2/3 of a tablespoon from the silverware drwer, baked for the full 10 mins and ended up with exactly 33 cookies. Little bit extra crisp on the outside perfect chew in the inside. I put a Hersheys Hug on ea cookie immediately out of the oven. I wish I knew how to submit a picture. There is not one cookie left.
This is now my “go-to” snickerdoodle recipe. Everyone loves it but my husband doesn’t want to share!
Another great recipe! They came out perfect, a light crisp outside but still soft inside. Everyone has been scarfing them down.
My 9 grandkids tell me these are their favorite cookies! And baking for them gives me so much pleasure. Thanks for this great recipe! That extra egg yolk makes a dfifference!
Love Love Love this recipe. Made one batch, tasted it and immediately made a second because I knew they would not last long enough for my kids to actually eat any 🙂
Made it as written and they are sugar bombs! I will decrease that sugar next time. Other than that they were prefect. I also left them to bake a couple minutes longer because most of my family doesn’t like soft cookies. They had a great crumble. Awesome.
More sugar please! I did enjoy the thick chewy texture, but sugar and a bit more spice or something is needed. Tasted almost healthy even after rolling in moe sugar and cinnamon
I love your recipes, but I wish you would get on board with metric. I find myself going to a different recipe that has a built in conversion and using you less and less
I just made these ! Definitely the best snickerdoodles ever ! I did go buy some cream of tartar since the one container I had in my cabinet was at least 20 years old. In those little white tins. 🙂 Anyways THIS will be the only recipe I will ever use.
I made these with only 1TBSP rather than 2. They were delicious. Baked for 7 minutes rather than 10. Do you have any other suggestions?
Yum! Thank you for this recipe. Do you recommend a certain kind of cinnamon? Or a blend?
Hi Larry, Sally typically uses the McCormick brand ground cinnamon, which is a cassia cinnamon, and the most common type available in the U.S.
NOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE THE TARTAR: I made these several times without and it still turned out great!! If you have it, I would use it but for those of you who don’t want to, you can leave it out.
Instead of cream of tartar you can use 3 teaspoons of baking powder, mine turned out lovely with the baking powder instead of cream of tartar
These are absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
These cookies were perfect. I followed recipe exactly and they looked and tasted delicious.
Can I use this recipe to make bars?
Hi Regina, you could try these as bars in a 9×13 inch pan. We are unsure of the best bake time. Hope you enjoy them!
I followed this recipe exactly. My cookies did puff up while baking, but they totally flattened on their own when I took them out of the oven. I was hoping they would stay a little puffy. Any suggestions?
Hi Anne, here are our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading – proper room temperature is particularly important. Thank you for giving these cookies a try!
Do you think it would be ok to use a mix of white & brown sugar in this recipe instead of just white? Thanks in advance, your website is my go to for all baking!!
Hi Megan, we haven’t tested these cookies with brown sugar but you can certainly try it. 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!
I stuck to the recipe, although accidentally made them smaller than they’re supposed to be and ended up with 48 cookies! This also means I anccidentally over baked them a bit so they’re not as soft but they still taste awesome! Will do better next time haha