Snickerdoodles are light and soft cinnamon sugar cookies with a characteristic aroma and crinkle tops that are the right balance of sweet and sour. Additionally, they’re simple to veganize! Combine these with your favorite cookie recipes.
I just realized that everyone and their mother had never heard of snickerdoodles. If you are aware of them, please allow me to stop so you can pick your jaw up off the floor.
For those who believe I’m simply making up a strange term, let me state unequivocally: Snickerdoodles have nothing to do with Snickers or doodles.
Contents
- Okay, so what are snickerdoodles?
- Why in the world are they called snickerdoodles?
- Tips for making the best snickerdoodles
- How to make vegan snickerdoodles
- Pair snickerdoodles with vanilla ice cream!
- The Best Snickerdoodles
- FAQs
- What makes the cookies chewy?
- How do you keep snickerdoodles from getting hard?
- Why is cream of tartar used in snickerdoodles?
- Why are my snickerdoodles so fluffy?
- What is the secret to making soft chewy cookies?
- How do you make cookies stay soft and chewy?
- How do bakeries keep their cookies soft?
- How do you soften snickerdoodles?
- Why are my snickerdoodles flat and hard?
- Why did my snickerdoodles come out cakey?
Okay, so what are snickerdoodles?
There are no peanuts or chocolate involved, and you cannot sketch with them.
Snickerdoodles are a soft, chewy cookie covered in cinnamon sugar and including a critical component that distinguishes them from a regular sugar cookie: cream of tartar.
Why in the world are they called snickerdoodles?
It is an excellent question. I’ve heard a several theories concerning the name, however according to Wikipedia:
According to The Joy of Cooking, snickerdoodles are most likely German in origin, and the name is a derivation of the German term Schneckennudel, a Palatine variant of schnecken.
It’s also likely that the name is a meaningless nonsense term derived from a New England tradition of funny cookie names. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word’s origin is unknown, but it is possibly a portmanteau of snicker, an imitative English word with Scottish roots that indicates a smothered laugh, and doodle, a Germanic loanword into English meaning a simple or foolish fellow, which was derived from the Germanic dudeltopf, which means simpleton, noodle, night-cap.
By 1836, the term snicker had entered the English language, whereas doodle had arrived in the early 17th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “snickerdoodle” first appeared in print in 1889.
Wikipedia
I really like reading about such topics. That also makes me want to come up with a stupid term.
Tips for making the best snickerdoodles
The butter should be pale and fluffy. Being careful to integrate enough air into the butter will aid in the production of the distinctive light and soft dough. Have a look at the top two photographs in the collage above! Take note of how light yellow they are.
Separately combine your dry ingredients. In this piece, I discussed why you should do so, and this dish is no exception. On low speed, combine the dry ingredient combination into the wet until you have a thick dough.
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. It’s the ideal balance of sweet and spicy. 4 cup granulated sugar and 1 1The sugar-to-cinnamon ratio is important. You will roll the dough balls in a mixture of 1
Portion out all of the dough and roll it in cinnamon sugar. Since your hands will get greasy and sticky when rolling the dough, portion them all out at once on a baking mat or parchment paper, and then take a second pass to coat them all in cinnamon sugar.
Provide plenty of room on the cookie sheets for them. They’re going to spread a lot, so give them some space! I never bake more than 8 cookies per sheet, and the picture above shows how I space them out.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Many cookie recipes bake at 350F, but we’re going to bake them at a little higher temperature to enable them to puff up and then cool back down to produce those lovely crinkled tops.
Furthermore, let them to cool for approximately 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to wire racks (aff link) to cool entirely. That time on the baking sheet is when the magic occurs.
You can see them transform from puffy to flatter, crinkled tops as they cool on the baking pan. If I’m being honest, that procedure may be my favorite part of baking.
As you may be aware, I have a little obsession with chewy, crinkled cookies:
- Fluffernutter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Espresso Cookies
- Chewy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
- Salted Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Grinch Crinkle Cookies
- Brownie Cookies
How to make vegan snickerdoodles
I’m not vegan and seldom go out of my way to develop vegan-friendly recipes (sorry), but this is one that I quickly veganized for a former colleague.
The main difference between the vegan and non-vegan versions of this dish (apart from the fact that the vegan version is vegan) is that the vegan version is generally puffier and less thin.
Yet both varieties are smooth and taste like ease. Covered with cinnamon sugar.
Pair snickerdoodles with vanilla ice cream!
The cinnamon taste isn’t overpowering, and it pairs well with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Do you want to consume them like Bluebirdcafela.com? This is what you do:
- Make cookie dough.
- Place first batch of 12 cookies in the oven.
- Place a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream into a bowl (although, if I’m being totally honest you’d just take the container of ice cream out of the freezer and shove a spoon in it).
- When the first batch of cookies are done,
burn your hand picking up a hot cookielet them cool and then grab one, slather it with ice cream, and place another cookie on top. Inhale. - Place second batch of 12 cookies in the oven.
- Now grab another couple cooled cookies and crumble them on top of the ice cream. Inhale yet again.
- Remove second batch of cookies from the oven. Wonder why you only have 12 cookies. And why your stomach hurts.
The Best Snickerdoodles
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Description
Equipment
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Baking sheets
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Nonstick silicone mat
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Parchment paper (precut)
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Mixing bowls
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Whisk
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Cookie scoops
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Stand Mixer
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Hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1and 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 4 ½teaspoonscinnamon, divided
- 1cupunsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1largeegg, room temperature
- 2 ½teaspoonsvanilla extract
- 3cupsall-purpose flour
- 2teaspoonscream of tartar
- 1teaspoonbaking soda
- ½teaspoonsalt
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375°F degrees. Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
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In a small bowl, whisk to combine 1/4 cup sugar with 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Set aside.1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar, 4 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
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In a large bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat butter for about 1 minute on medium-high speed until smooth. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and beat on high speed until pale and fluffy.1 cup unsalted butter
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Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture and beat until combined. Set aside.1 large egg, 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
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In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, the remaining 3 teaspoons of cinnamon, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until completely combined – dough will be very thick.3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt
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Scoop out 2-3 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball (a large cookie scoop works well). Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture and place each ball of dough on prepared pans several inches apart (they’ll spread quite a bit).
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Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and lightly press on the top of each cookie to flatten them a bit. Let cool on baking sheets for 5-10 minutes until they’ve set, then move to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
To make this recipe vegan:
- Substitute unsalted butter 1:1 for Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks.
- Substitute 1 egg for 1 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G or Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer and 2 Tablespoons water. In a small bowl, combine Egg Replacer with water according to package directions. and then add the mixture to butter mixture with vanilla (step 4)