Snickerdoodle Cookies

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Snickerdoodles are soft and indulgent cookies, rich with sugar and buttery goodness.

Total Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Snickerdoodles are such an underrated cookie. While the most common cookies tend to be sugar cookies or chocolate chip cookies, Snickerdoodles are so delicious that they deserve to be close to the top of the cookie hierarchy. One of the unique characteristics of a snickerdoodle is the sugar and cinnamon crust that surrounds the cookie. This gives each cookie a crisp coating which is a delightful contrast to the soft texture of each cookie. Ok, I need to go eat one of these before getting any further.

Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes.

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Ingredients

Snickerdoodles are unique in terms of ingredients for two major reasons. The first reason is snickerdoodle cookies use cream of tartar and baking soda to get the rise within the cookie and retain its soft texture. The second reason is snickerdoodles have a distinct lack of vanilla extract in the recipe. All the flavoring in the cookie comes from the large quantities of sugar and butter as well as the cinnamon within the cookie coating.

Process

Like most cookies, the process for making Snickerdoodles is simple. I was able to knock out everything in about an hour (I know this is longer than the advertised time and I will get into why that is later in this section). I also ended up making these at, like, eight in the morning so it doesn’t take much brain power to get something delicious. The first step is to mix the butter and sugar until they are well combined. This is the foundation of the cookie, so you want to make sure that everything is mixed thoroughly. If the butter isn’t soft enough, it’s easy to get chunks of butter. The best way to offset this, once you’ve began mixing, is to mix more until it’s at a place that you’re happy with. The eggs will then be added to butter sugar mixture to keep all the wet ingredients together.

In a separate bowl, the dry ingredients should be combined. This will include the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt. I like to whisk these ingredients together as it helps keep the uniformity of the cookies. The dry mixture is then added into the wet mixture and then brought together to make a dough.

Shaping is an important step for making Snickerdoodles. The dough is relatively dry, it almost feels like playdough, making it easy to roll out into balls. The balls shouldn’t be too big because the ratio of cookie to crust should be just right when the cookie ball is made to have a 1-inch diameter. The cookies will then be rolled into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. This is a critical step! I like to really soak the cookies in the sugar to cover every nook and cranny.

Lastly, it’s time to bake! The reason that the cookies took me longer than the advertised time is that I like to cook each sheet one at a time. This allows for a more consistent cook across the cookies and across each tray. I would highly recommend cooking each tray one at a time if you have the time.

Lessons

Cooking with One or Multiple Trays in the Oven

When cooking with one or multiple trays the effects of the oven will vary depending on how many trays are processed at once. The total cook time should not be affected by adding more trays, but the consistency of the bake will be affected. One tray allows for even circulation of heat within the oven making all cookies brown at a relatively even rate. Two or more trays is going to hinder that circulation because there is now more mass in the oven. This results in the cookies nearer the heat source to be browned at a faster rate. The best way to combat this effect is to turn the trays in the oven about halfway through the baking process.