If you’ve been on the hunt for the perfect Snickerdoodle, your search ends here. These soft and chewy cookies are everything a Snickerdoodle should be—pillowy centers, crisp edges, and that signature tangy cinnamon-sugar coating that makes them absolutely irresistible. They’re easy to whip up and perfect for everything from holiday cookie plates to everyday sweet cravings. This classic recipe delivers bakery-style results with minimal effort, making it a must-save for your collection.
Want to make one giant Snickerdoodle? You’ve got to try this.
Ingredients & Equipment Needed
- sugar
- ground cinnamon
- all-purpose flour
- cream of tartar
- baking soda
- salt – if you’re using salted butter, you can omit this!
- butter
- vegetable shortening
- eggs
- beater blade – if you have a Kitchen Aid, one of these is a must!
How to Make Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles
This is a simple overview of the recipe, you’ll find a full printable recipe below!
- Preheat oven to 375°F; line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
- Mix ¼ cup sugar with cinnamon in a shallow dish and set aside.
- Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
- Beat butter, shortening, and remaining 1½ cups sugar until light and fluffy (3–6 mins).
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping bowl as needed.
- On low speed, mix in dry ingredients until just combined; stir to ensure no flour remains. The dough is very soft; but whatever you do, don’t add more flour!
- Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into balls, coat in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 10–12 mins, until edges are set but centers look slightly underdone.
- Cool on pan for 10 mins, then transfer to wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen large cookies.
Storage & Other Tips
- The dough is very soft; it’s supposed to be that way, don’t add more flour.
- These cookies spread quite a lot, so give them space.
- Cooking time here is pivotal; if you overcook these Snickerdoodles they will be “thin and crispy” instead of “soft and chewy”. The trick is to watch the edges first; they should be just set, but the centers should still look raw between all of those cinnamon cracks. The cookies will be pillowy and puffy looking while in the hot oven, and when they come out they’ll start to fall, which is what they’re supposed to do! That’s how they get those beautiful crackly tops. After they’ve cooled, they’ll flatten out even more and those slightly under-cooked centers become perfectly cooked and yield a soft, chewy, buttery, interior.
- Store in an airtight container for 3 – 5 days at room temperature, or freeze for 1 – 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Shortening plays a key role in this cookie. Combined with the butter it gives optimal texture while allowing the flavor of the butter to come through. If you leave the shortening out, cookies will spread more, have a crispier texture, and lack chewiness.
Yes! Cream of tartar gives Snickerdoodles their signature tangy flavor and chewy texture. Substituting it will change the flavor and consistency. If you don’t like cream of tartar, then guess what? You don’t like Snickerdoodles! Make a sugar cookie instead.
That’s actually what you want! Pull them from the oven when the edges are set and the centers look slightly underdone—they’ll finish setting as they cool.
Technically yes. Scoop dough balls, freeze on a tray, then transfer to a bag. Bake straight from frozen—just add an extra minute or two. However, I always recommend cookie dough be baked fresh.
Yes, this recipe doubles well—just be sure not to overcrowd your mixing bowl and baking sheets.
Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt omit if using salted butter
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 stick, softened to room temperature
- 8 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 2 eggs large
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon in shallow dish and set aside. Whisk flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl.
- Beat butter, shortening, and remaining 1 ½ cups sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.
- Reduce speed of mixer to low and slowly add flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Give dough final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain.
- Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll into balls. Working in batches, roll dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet spaced 2 inches apart.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time until edges of cookies are set and just barely beginning to brown, but centers are still soft and puffy, about 10-12 minutes. The cookies should look raw between the cracks and seem underdone.
- Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
Questions & Reviews
It takes a village is what runs through my head! I too like the pre q & a section. And although I do think its a bit ironic that I’m waiting for my two hour, after eight hours of fasting, gestational diabetes test reading this, great post and looks like a great recipe!
Thanks Sara for making me laugh and cry on this beautiful Monday morning. What a great story and paying it forward is the way to go. The cookies look great:)
Snickerdoodles. My most favorite cookie!!!!
These can be rolled in a combination of sugar and pumpkin pie spice in the fall. 🙂
Yum yum yum! That is an awesome suggestion, Ailene! Thanks!
Vegetable shortening, we’re talking butter flavored crisco, right?
Yep! You can use butter flavored, or unflavored- either works. I usually use butter flavored.
Your pre-conceived question/answer sessions are almost like therapy to me because they say the things I want to say. Sometimes I read the comments sections and think about how I could never write a blog that was so useful, because people seem to become so dependant on it, and start asking all sorts of crazy questions like the blogger is now the authority on anything even slightly related to the blog topic. Your “Google” answer cracked me up because that’s what I sort of say out loud to myself when I read a lot of these questions. Now, I do appreciate comments where people say “I didn’t have *this* so I decided to use *that* and it worked totally awesome (or flopped)” because that is helpful. Questions like “Your beef stew recipe looks awesome, but I’m allergic to beef and I don’t like stew. Could you recommend some substitutions”….those are just baffling really. Okay, okay…rant over. Anyway, thanks for calling people out on that nonsense.
They’re therapy for me too 😉 Your beef comment made me laugh out loud, because that literally happens every day around here, haha.
Thanks for the laugh and the warm fuzzies Sara. I know how it is having cranky kids at the grocery store (or any place for that matter), I’m glad that you had an angel to help you when you needed it and that there are still people out there willing to be that angel. I love snickerdoodles, thank you for the recipe.
What a great story! And reading your Q&A made me smile 🙂 I use part shortening and part butter in my chocolate chip cookies for texture as well (the flattened, crispy, all butter Nestle Tollhouse version just doesn’t do it for me) and I’ve found a nice compromise in the butter flavored Crisco. It gives me the texture I want along with the extra buttery flavor of an all butter cookie.
Something about shortening scares me, so I like to use all-butter. (Mmm. More flavor!) Luckily, my cookies don’t spread at all! I found that if I chill the dough before baking, the cookies bake up nice and thick!
http://thekitchenkook.blogspot.com/2013/01/classic-snickerdoodle-cookies.html
I have 3 small boys as well and must look pretty helpless, because I have had people (angles, really) help me like that twice recently. Both times I felt like it was the nicest service I have ever received and I hope I can remember to do the same when I don’t have children with me anymore. And for some reason, I didn’t think of eating a cookie for them. Silly me! The snickerdoodles look great!
It’s like you put the “or Sir” in there just for me! I feel like I’m the only male participant here most of the time.
Question that Sara forgot:
Being a single male college student, I’m too poor/lazy to run out and buy unsalted butter when I already have salted butter. How much salt should I hold out of this recipe when I make this?
Oh, but I didn’t forget (see I am a genius!) In the recipe I noted that if you use salted butter (like I do) you can omit the table salt entirely.
And you bet the “sir” was *just* for you Mark 😉 I know for a fact we have lots of male readers, but they don’t speak up and comment very often- we appreciate that you do!
My mistake. It seems you did. Either that or you cleverly added that in while it wasn’t looking. Either way, bravo!
LIKE!
I am glad I am not the only male reader on here. I feel kind of bad at times as most of this is geared towards girls but I do more of the cooking in my house, or at least I enjoy it more than my wife does.
Hello Nate! I’m glad you spoke up, we always like to hear from our signature MEN! 🙂
Nate — your wife is a lucky lady!! Men who can cook are awesome!! (My man cooks quite a bit too, and I love it!) ~mama pris
I substituted Coconut oil for the crisco because its better for you, and its a similar texture. I kept the butter as called for, of course. And together, they made a soft chewy cookie that tasted great. Just thought I would pass that along as a good tip if you are worried about consuming shortening. Thanks for the great recipe!
Good tip, thanks Jennifer! I don’t use shortening, so was just wondering if I should add extra butter, but it sounds like coconut oil would work too. Do you soften it at all?