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!
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
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.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Easy Cookie Recipes:
Chai Snickerdoodle Cookies — The soft, buttery dough soaks up the warming notes of the chai spices beautifully!
One-Bowl, No-Mixer, No-Chill Oatmeal Cookies — An incredibly FAST and EASY recipe that produces perfectly thick cookies with chewy edges and soft centers!! One bowl to wash, no mixer to drag out, and no waiting around!!
Softbatch Funfetti Sugar Cookies — These funfetti cookies are essentially sugar cookies from scratch that have been loaded with sprinkles. They have that nostalgic boxed cake flavor but are 100% homemade!
Cowboy Cookies — These cowboy cookies are packed with oats, chocolate chips, Cornflakes, and shredded coconut. This is a flexible recipe that you can make with different mix-ins to suit whatever is in your pantry!
Easy 4-Ingredient Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies — These 4-ingredient peanut butter cookies are made with a secret ingredient…and lots of peanut butter, of course! These are so easy and fast to make!
The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies — One of my absolute favorite recipes for chocolate chip cookies thanks to a special ingredient! Just one bite and I think you’ll agree!!
The Best Soft & Chewy M&M’s Cookies — These bakery-style M&M’s cookies are soft, chewy, buttery, and LOADED with M&M’s and chocolate chips. No one can resist these cookies!
Frosted Soft Sugar Cookies – Super SOFT sugar cookies that just melt in your mouth!! If you’ve ever thought that sugar cookies can be boring or dry, this EASY recipe with frosting and sprinkles will change your mind!
Hi! I just wanted to say, these are the BEST snickerdoodles I have ever tried/made! They came out so wonderfully chewy – thank you for all your amazing recipes! Can’t wait to try more!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And that they’re the best ever!
This is a great recipe! My daughter has made it several times in the past month or so. She even entered some of them into the fair and won first place. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that your daughter won first place with my recipe!
Having worked at Mrs.Field’s for several years, back when we made the cookies and muffins in-store, I can say that her recipe did not contain cream of tartar. Use baking powder (the 2 teaspoons sounds about right) instead.
Thanks for the tip about baking powder. Whenever I had played around to ‘perfect’ the recipe, if I kept out the Cream of T, the cookies didn’t have the right texture. Also I think that baking in a home kitchen is different than a restaurant or commercial-grade kitchen and so sometimes ingredients in one don’t always translate to another and vice versa, but I appreciate the insider info!
I made a double batch of these cookies for Labor Day and they were a HUGE hit…literally gone in less than 20 minutes. I decided to make them again for a BBQ this past weekend. I decided I would pre-make the dough since you said it could be frigerated up to 5 days. Well I didn’t end up going to the BBQ & I have a family of 2 with a double batch of cookies! I saw you mentioned they could be frozen up to 4 months. My question is if I put part of the batch in the freezer, how do I bake them from frozen? Or do I need to put them in the fridge for a certain amount of time than bake as normal?
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Just freeze the dough balls and then when you’re ready to bake, put them on the cookie sheet, preheat oven, and bake. They may need an extra 1-2 minutes, depending on all the variables, just keep an eye on them and use your judgment but normally when baking from straight frozen to oven, things only need an extra 2 minutes max for me.
I’ve just made snickerdoodles for the first time, here in the UK we don’t have anything like this, but they looked so tasty I just had to try the recipe. They turned out perfect first time, they didn’t flatten at all but puffed up a little to form slight cracks in the surface and they taste amazing. Can’t wait to make another batch to give to all my family and friends.
Thanks so much for sharing your recipes.
Bev xx
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And that you can share with your UK friends and family!
I’m not sure if this has been suggested, but I do not soften the butter. I mix the sugars and butter, it is not creamy, but is combined. The dough is not sticky in the end and is firmer and easier to handle. Cookies come out of the oven slightly larger than they went in!
I haven’t tried it that way and can only vouch for the way I wrote the recipe (just in case others are reading this comment) but glad that method works for you!
I tried this recipe for the first time last night and the cookies came out fabulous. Seriously this recipe for snickerdoodles is the best one that I’ve ever tried. The only thing that I did differently is instead of adding two eggs I opted to just add the one and the cookies still came out great. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad they’re the best snickerdoodles you’ve ever tried!
Kind regards from Germany! I have also tried your snickerdoodles and i thought maybe it is interesting for you, that your recipe made the jump across the atlantic. Absolutely delicious! I also tried the Cookies with chocolate and Pudding mix, also very very good, but these are my favourites. Please excuse my mistakes, my english is really improvable. :-)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you as well as the other recipes you’ve tried! Glad you’re happy with everything!
I looove these cookies!I have made them several times and they come out perfect every single time!This is now my favorite cookie,especially since i love cinnamon :)
http://www.sweetima.wordpress.com
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
I made these today my kids loved them! Mine came out flat. Next time I will use everything that you suggested.
Make sure everything is super fresh and use my suggestions and I think they’ll be puffier. Glad your kids loved them!
I LOVED THESE COOKIES!
I didn’t even use cream of tartar because I didn’t have any, I didn’t let it chill for very long, AND I cannot bake, and they turned out absolutely perfectly lol.
I already ate four of them. I have a tummy ache, but man was it worth it.
These were amazing, and they really did taste like Mrs. Field’s!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad they came out great for you! And that you skipped the C of T and were also able to get away with a short chill time…and you say you can’t bake? Well you can now!
First of all, I love this recipe! Thanks so much for posting it. I’ve made these a few times now and they always come out wonderfully. However one issue I’m having is that I can’t seem to yield as many cookies as you do (I usually get anywhere between 9 – 11). At first I thought this was due to portioning so I bought the scoop you linked in the post, yet to no avail. As much as having fewer cookies is better for my waistline, I’d definitely love to make more without doubling the ingredients. Any ideas?
Thanks for any insight! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes :)
Hmm that’s odd that you’re getting significantly less, on multiple occasions. I would say just make your mounds of dough slightly less big when scooping them out (there’s a way to be skimpy with a cookie scoop)…make sure to bake them less time than you are now since skimpier cookies need less time in the oven. Or…you could just double the batch and then you’d get 18-22 cookies..LOL Glad you love the recipe!
Love this snickerdoodle recipe! That is why we featured it in our list of the Best Dessert Recipes https://www.listsforall.com/best-dessert-recipes/. Would love if you would checkout the full list sometime. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the shoutout!
Whaaa! So disappointed !!! My daughter s fav cookie and wanted to surprise her for finals week of grad school. Cookies went flat and seemed like raw dough in middle–blah. Followed recipe to a T. I will give another shot with 25 degrees lower oven and 1/4 c more flour.
Please read over this post for all my cookie baking tips https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html Are you baking with King Arthur flour? Using a Silpat? Using brand new baking soda and cream of tartar? Those are the key things that come to mind that would contribute to flattening cookies if you’re not doing them. Hopefully the extra 1/4 cup of flour does the trick. I don’t recommend lowering the oven temp personally but if you think it would help, by all means, go with your gut.
I’ve made these probably a good ten times now and they’ve come out perfect without a faim every single time. Everyone I’ve shared the cookies with has absolutely loves them. This one time five of us managed to completely demolish one batch within about 15 min of the cookies coming out of the oven, it was so hot but no one could wait for them to cool down first cause it was so good. This has definitely become my number one to go cookie recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it comes out great for you every time that you make it AND that it’s become your #1 go-to cookie recipe! And that it’s a crowd pleaser and hit! :)
Can you chill the dough all together or does it already have to be in little balls?
Chill in balls otherwise it’s soooo rock hard when you try to scoop them out if you chill it all in one big mass.