The BEST Snickerdoodles Recipe — Soft, pillowy puffs that are so irresistible! The closest recipe to Mrs. Fields snickerdoodles that you’ll find!
Easy Snickerdoodle Recipe
A good snickerdoodle is hard to come by, but this recipe is my favorite. Soft, slightly chewy, pillowy little puffs of goodness that I can’t stay away from.
I’ve always loved snickerdoodles, and in high school and college used to work at a mall three stores down from Mrs. Fields. That was dangerous because it fueled my snickerdoodle habit with extreme ease. The snickerdoodles are as close to the Mrs. Fields recipe (my personal gold standard) that I’ve been able to replicate at home.
These homemade snickerdoodle cookies are slightly chewy around the edges with soft, pillowy centers. They’re buttery with a light cinnamon-sugar coating. Not too heavy, just classic snickerdoodle. If you’re a cinnamon fiend, I recommend making my Soft and Chewy Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodles instead.
They’re everything I want in a classic snickerdoodle cookie and my family agreed by eating the whole batch on the afternoon I made them. I sent a dozen cookies with them to the beach for the afternoon somewhat expecting they’d come back with a few left over. That was clearly foolish thinking.
This my new favorite snickerdoodle recipe I’ve tried. Just like Mrs. Fields!
What’s in These Chewy Snickerdoodles?
For this homemade snickerdoodles cookie recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Cream of tartar
- Salt
- Cinnamon
How to Make Snickerdoodles
Don’t let the tasty cinnamon sugar coating fool you into thinking homemade snickerdoodles are hard to make. These cookies are actually one of the easiest I’ve ever made!
To make these chewy snickerdoodles, you’ll first need to cream together the butter and sugars until the mixture is light any fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla, then add the dry ingredients.
Scoop the cookie dough into balls and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to five days. Once the cookie dough has chilled, roll each ball into the cinnamon sugar before baking.
You’ll know your cookies are ready to come out of the oven when the edges are set and the tops have just set. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before serving with a big glass of milk.
Do I Have to Use Cream of Tartar?
Cream of tartar (sold in the spice aisle) is the leavener that gives the cookies lift, lightness, provides the classic snickerdoodle flavor, and it’s key for this recipe. Don’t skip it or you won’t end up with the best snickerdoodles.
If you don’t have cream of tartar on hand but want to make snickerdoodles immediately, try my White Chocolate Snickerdoodles or my Chewy Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies instead.
Can I Double This Recipe?
Very easily, yes! You’ll need to use multiple baking sheets though since you don’t want to crowd the cookies.
Can I Prep These Cookies in Advance?
Yes, you can scoop and freeze the cookie dough balls for up to four months. You’ll want to bake the dough from frozen (do not thaw) and you’ll likely need to add a couple minutes to the bake time.
Do I Have to Chill the Cookie Dough?
Yes, you MUST chill the dough before baking so your cookies bake up thick and full. Unchilled dough will result in cookies that are prone to spreading and they’ll be much thinner, and flatter.
How to Store Snickerdoodles
These soft snickerdoodles will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Tips for the Best Snickerdoodles
I used a 2-inch cookie scoop to form these cookies (about 2 heaping tablespoons). You’re welcome to make larger cookies, but if you do that you’ll need to add a couple minutes to the bake time.
When making this chewy snickerdoodle recipe, I underbake them by a minute or two to ensure the centers are extra soft. Underbaking also helps the cookies stay softer and fresher over time, but you can bake longer if you prefer more well-done or firmer cookies.
Lastly, feel free to add more or less cinnamon to the cinnamon-sugar coating to suit your preferences. I like my snickerdoodles to have a good amount of cinnamon flavor on them, but I know not everyone likes it as much as I do!
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The Best Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
Dough
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
For Rolling
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop or your hands, form approximately 14 equal-sized mounds of dough (2 heaping tablespoons each), roll into balls, and flatten slightly.
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and stir to combine.
- Dredge each mound of dough through cinnamon-sugar.
- Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake for soft, pillowy cookies. For firmer cookies, bake a minute or two longer. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Excited to make these!! Have you tried adding caramels or snickers to it at all? Would I need to change baking time for that?? Wanted to add snickers! The only recipe I can find is Betty Crocker but I prefer to make homemade cookies.
Just add some diced Snickers pieces, and I doubt you’ll have to change the baking time more than 1 minute, if that. I have a Snickers Cookie recipe too here! https://www.averiecooks.com/soft-and-chewy-snickers-chocolate-chip-cookies/
These tasted delicious! But, they came out totally flat for me – why do my cookies always come out flat? They weren’t crispy because I did not overbake them but, they are completely flat. I followed the directions exactly – what causes flat cookies?
Read this post https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html So many tips from Silpat, chilling the dough, King Arthur flour, all my tips are there. I bet if you change up a few things and follow ALL my tips, you will not have flat cookies anymore.
Glad they tasted great though!
Made a quadruple batch. chilled, and baked a few. Wonderful! I have the rest, balled with a scoop and rolled, waiting in the fridge to bake for tree decorating day tomorrow. These truly are the best snickerdoodles I have ever made.
So glad you love them and that they’re the best you’ve ever made! And way to go with a 4x batch!!
Hi Averie, these look yummy- how are they different to the ones on Food.com? I can’t seem to see what you changed.
I added slightly more vanilla, a thicker cinnamon sugar coating, and the way I cream my ingredients and mix the dough together varies from their recipe but yes, very similar which is why I linked to them. The cookies are wonderful!
Made the recipe with gluten free baking flour (+ xanthan gum) and margarine, and upped the baking time by about two minutes since they still seemed very doughy. They came out very soft and pillowy and flavorful, definitely the best snickerdoodle recipe I’ve found so far! Thank you. :)
Glad to hear that GF baking flour plus some XG did the trick! With oven variances, climates, different flours, etc. baking times can always vary. I’m glad you told me you had success with doing these GF and the best recipe you’ve found!
Omgeez sooo good!
Glad you like them!
Could i use margarine instead of butter?
I wouldn’t do it. It doesn’t bake the same and cookies could become very flat as well as lack real buttery flavor.
Ok thank you i guess ill just have to wait for my butter to soften!
5 to 10 seconds in the microwave on a paper towel. DONE.
I made these last night. Having one now with my coffee. They are great! Mine didn’t come out exactly like your photos. I think I must have flattened them just a bit too much. I also used an insulated cookie sheet, and found that I had to increase the baking time to get them baked through. Like someone posted above, I too had pretty sticky dough. I was unwilling to add more flour, so I simply wet my hands and that worked perfectly! Next time, I’ll leave them more ball shaped and use a regular sheet pan. GREAT recipe. Thanks!
Insulated cookie sheets are tempermental in my experience. Sometimes they work great, other times not as much. For these I would just use a regular baking sheet like you said and not flatten quite as much but sounds like they came out great!
Can I use salted butter if that’s all I have and just omit the 1/4 teaspoon of salt?
Perfect – go for it!
Thank you so much for replying you have no idea how bad I want to make these :) yay!
I made these last night and all I had was salted butter. I did just as you suggest and left out the salt. They came out great!
That’s great!
I had to stop back and tell you about this-
I’ve recently married a German and we’re currently residing in Germany. An American couple nearby delightfully invited us along with several German friends for thanksgiving. I wanted to make pumpkin cookies but this country had other ideas (no canned pumpkin, don’t yet own a blender). So I thought okay, snickerdoodkes. I picked your recipe because it’s the first one I found without shortening, which I also can’t get here.
Well, Germans don’t know what they are (are they sweet? Are they for the main meal or after? Are they for breakfast?) and they think I’m making up the name, but oh my goodness they lost their freaking minds over these cookies. They were the only item we didn’t have leftovers of and everyone wanted the recipe. I had people telling me two or three times each how good they were.
So thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!
Looooove stories like this! First, thanks for trying the recipe in lieu of pumpkin pie. From pumpkin pie to snickerdoodles, hey, whatever works when you’re living abroad and can’t get the ingredients you’re used to! Glad that everyone was going nuts over the cookies with the funny name and telling you how good they were and wanted the recipe. Wow, that’s awesome! Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!
Just made these cookies and they are FANTASTIC! I doubled the recipe and instead of yielding 28 cookies, I made slightly over 40 small/medium cookies. No complaints there! But just a warning ;)
Be generous in rolling the dough in the granulated sugar and cinnamon toppings. the more cinnamon / sugar you put on the dough, the tastier it is.
One Little Note: I chilled the dough for an hour and when I baked the cookies for 9 minutes (as stated in the recipe), the dough still wasn’t fully baked through. I had to bake the cookies for around 15 minutes in order for it to really pillow / plump up. They are incredibly soft and yummy.
Thanks for the recipe! I shall be using this recipe again to make another batch of cookies in December! :)
All ovens vary and glad you found the right time in yours, given your climate, dough, etc. And I totally agree to be generous is rolling :) Glad you love them!!
I just tried making these and was super excited. But sadly my dough turned out to sticky to roll.. I don’t know what I did wrong. I added more flour a little over 1/4 cup.. But still didn’t help. An ymore suggestions to save my cookies?
Add another 1/4 of flour or so, enough so it’s not crazy sticky. Then pop the bowl in the freezer for 15 mins. Remove. Then roll into balls an refrig those balls for at least 3+ hours (or overnight or up to 5 days) before baking. And bake them off. I think you’ll be fine!
I just made these and followed your instructions exactly! My goodness, they came out amazing! Just perfect! I was skeptical when I pulled them out of the oven after 9 minutes because they looked far too underdone! But I had faith and did not overbake them. <3
Glad you had faith at 9 minutes and they came out beautifully for you! That’s great to hear!
These were my “snow day” cookies yesterday. I was in the mood for a blast from the past. Turned out great for me, both taste-wise as well as being soft and puffy. Interesting that you had so many commenters on this recipe who struggled with flat cookies. I confess I use Gold Medal flour, not King Arthur, but they still turned out great. I would probably add a touch more cream of tartar next time to get more “tang” but that’s just a personal taste quirk.
I know you’re a major Cream of T fan because I remember one of my older snickerdoodle recipes doesn’t have it included, and you didn’t make those for that very reason! I remember you telling me that.
Glad these came out great for you in terms of texture, thickness, and flavor, and that your flour worked out just fine…love hearing success stories! :)
Hi there :) you cookies look heavenly Nomnommnom. Do you know if they would be okay to flatten before baking and use a cookie cutter?
Hmmmm….in 90% of my cookie recipes, they’re naturally pretty thick and hearty enough that I would say sure! But these, these are a more delicate, and slightly thinner cookie dough base to begin with, but I say go for it! BUT don’t roll them too thin. I would definitely error on the thicker side so that when they bake they don’t spread too thin and DEFINITELY chill the dough before baking after you get the shapes rolled out. A pain, I know, but I think it will really save them from flattening too much. Please LMK how it goes!
I make the cookies with two tablespoons worth, like the recipe called for, and it only made nine cookies. Very disappointing that it didn’t make 14 cookies like it said it did. :(
Thanks for trying the recipe and somehow we must be judging our tablespoons differently. I use the cookie scoop linked in the recipe and got 14 but your cookies are probably just a bit larger than mine are. You can make them smaller next time if you want to increase the yield; or double the batch.