These snickerdoodles are soft, chewy-edged, and the perfect balance of sweet & mildly tangy thanks to the essential addition of cream of tartar–and they come together in just 30 minutes!
If one person asks me for a recipe, I smile and send them a link.
If five people ask me for a recipe, I make a mental note to bring it the next time I need to ask Fred to borrow some cash.
If a whopping fifteen people ask me for a recipe, however, that’s my cue to drag my sorry little butt out of blogging hibernation and publish the recipe for posterity, pronto.
And that, my friends, brings us to today’s recipe: The best, most logic-defyingly perfect snickerdoodle on which you will ever lay your tastebuds.
Let’s cut to the chase here. While our oven fires up less and less frequently these days, this snickerdoodle recipe was such a hit the first time I brought them to the office that I’ve made it five times (yes, count ’em, FIVE) in the past week alone. They’re soft, chewy-edged, and the perfect balance of sweet & mildly tangy thanks to the essential addition of cream of tartar. If I had to describe them in a phrase, they’re heavenly churros smashed into cookie form with an extra sprinkle of nirvana on top.
These cookies are pretty hard to mess up and only take 30 minutes from start to finish–but since there always seem to be a few of us (!) who like to push the boundaries of the word “foolproof,” here are some quick tips to make your own snickerdoodles perfect:
1. Use cream of tartar. Do not skip. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. And for the love of all that’s holy, DO use cream of tartar. (It’s what lends these cookies their classic “tang.”)
2. Don’t over-soften your butter. This is essential to ensuring that your cookies don’t spread too much. Make sure you’re better comes straight from the fridge and is only just softened enough so that you can start working with it. If you soften it more, you better be prepared to work with cookie soup.
3. Do the post-bake trick to make your cookies nice and round. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read the recipe instructions for this pro (but IMO critical) tip for a truly perfect snickerdoodle!
And now, as they would say in our creative writing classes of yore: “Show, don’t tell.” That’s my cue to shut up and bake another batch before bedtime. Enjoy and bake on, friends!
The Perfect Snickerdoodle
These snickerdoodles are soft, chewy-edged, and the perfect balance of sweet & mildly tangy thanks to the essential addition of cream of tartar--and come together in just 30 minutes. Recipe lightly adapted from Lil' Luna.
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 1 cup butter, just softened*
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the cinnamon-sugar topping:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well-mixed.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add to wet ingredients mixture and fold until just incorporated. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon to make your cinnamon-sugar topping.
- Use your hands or a small scoop to form 1-inch dough balls. Roll each ball generous in cinnamon-sugar topping, until completely coated.
- Place dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking tray.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes in preheated oven, until edges have set and centers are still soft.*** Allow to continue cooling on baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
Notes
*Make sure that your butter really is "just softened," meaning it should come cold from the fridge and be microwaved at 5-second increments until you can work with it. Over-softening butter will lead to cookies that spread.
**If you need to bake these in batches, place your dough in the refrigerator to keep it nice and chilled while you wait for the first batches to finish. Doing so will ensure that your later batches won't warm up too much and spread.
***Pro Tip: To achieve a perfect circular cookie shape, grab a a large cup rim or circular cookie cutter as soon as you remove the cookies from the oven. While they're still piping hot, place the rim over the cookie and move it rapidly (in a circular motion) to "swirl" each cookie around vigorously but gently for 3-5 seconds. Doing so will give your cookies perfectly rounded edges!
