There is something nostalgic about snickerdoodle cookies for me…they taste like childhood and home. I have an incurable sweet tooth and these sugar cookies with a twist are one of my favorite indulgences…who can resist a cookie or two?
The weather here has been perfect for baking. By which I mean too cold for humans. Having the oven on when it is sub zero outside is one way to make the house cozy (ICYMI here are 6 easy ways to add cozy to your home this winter). And the tantalizing aroma of baking just adds a layer of wonderful to that!
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I have tried many many different recipes for snickerdoodle cookies looking for the one that tastes like I remember. Nostalgia is powerful, y’all! What I discovered is that the key ingredient for me (besides sugar and cinnamon and ALL the butter) is cream of tartar.
The Key Ingredient
What the heck is cream of tarter and WHY would I want to add this mysterious white powder to my cookies, you ask? I’m glad you asked…I was curious about it and did some research and here’s what I found out:
Cream of tarter is a by-product of winemaking. WELL. THAT explains the appeal?! I mean how could that be bad?
From foodnetwrok.com:
“Grapes are a natural source of cream of tartar’s main ingredient: tartaric acid (hence the “tartar” in its name). And when tartaric acid is half neutralized with potassium hydroxide, cream of tartar is the result, crystalizing into a hard crust on the inside of wine barrels.”
Okay, well that doesn’t sound particularly appetizing….and I also wonder who the first person was that looked at that and said “huh… let’s scrape that gunk off the barrels and see what we can do with it”. But cream of tartar is a wonder substance, apparently. It can be used for all kinds of things from cleaning to baking.
I am, of course, far more interested in baking 😊. It can stabilize meringue, and inhibit sugar crystallization. In snickerdoodle cookies, it adds that tangy flavor and chewy texture and inhibits browning (again due to the reaction with sugar)…all the things that makes a snickerdoodle a snickerdoodle and not just a cinnamon sugar cookie.
boxing a dozen fresh baked snickerdoodle cookies for gifting
The Origin of the Snickerdoodle
Okay, I admit, the name is weird. Like something perpetrated by 4th grade boys in a class they particularly dislike, or a really bizarre new breed of dog. I mean they’ve crossed a poodle with pretty much everything BUT a snickers bar at this point?! But it seems to have come from neither the word snicker nor doodle.
The name “snickerdoodle” has somewhat murky origins, but the explanation that makes the most sense to me has them originating in Pennsylvania Dutch country as a “snip-doodle” - loosely translated slice-hurry. These were originally baked as a cut and serve bar cake/cookie, having evolved from a yeasted coffee cake into something quicker to bake and serve.
Of course the cut bar version, while delicious, would dry out much more quickly than a cookie, so eventually these were developed into the cookie we know and love.
There are snickerdoodle recipes without cream of tartar, but the taste is not at all the same. Some people prefer this milder cinnamon sugar cookie, but then it isn’t a snickerdoodle! For me, the distinctive tang from the cream of tartar are what make these authentically snickerdoodle cookies!
Once you have softened the butter, these are quick and easy and can all be done in an electric mixer. A cookie scoop, sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray (like Pam) to keep the dough from sticking to it makes fast work of portioning it into balls. And rolling the balls in cinnamon sugar is a nice job for any kitchen minions you have at home.
Like with our chocolate chip cookies, I suspect the cookie balls could be frozen at this point to be fresh baked later, but I haven’t tested this yet as we’ve been baking, gifting, and eating them all pretty much right away.
A warm snickerdoodle cookie with a mug of something hot is sheer bliss on a winter day.
So here is the winning recipe - which is adapted from Martha Stewart by way of Smitten Kitchen.
Favorite Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe
makes ~ 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°
Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper (this is our favorite kind)
Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy (scrape down sides of bowl as needed).
Add eggs, and beat to combine.
Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine.
At this point, I chilled the dough for a bit (maybe 20 minutes?) to let it get a little firmer for scooping, but this is optional.
In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon.
Use a small (#40 is my ideal size) cookie scoop to form balls of the dough. Tip: I spray my scoop with nonstick cooking spray first for easy release.
Roll the dough balls in your hands to get them round and then roll in the cinnamon sugar to coat.
Place about two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes.
Leave the cookies on the cookie sheet about five minutes to firm up a bit before transferring them to a rack to cool. (If you use parchment, you can just slide the whole paper onto the cooling rack!)
These cookies can, theoretically, be stored in an airtight container up to one week. I put mine under a glass cake dome on the kitchen counter… I’ve never had them last more than 36 hours before they’ve all mysteriously disappeared…
Snickerdoodles are my kryptonite, but rest assured I did not single-handedly polish off all three dozen!
From this batch, a dozen warm-out-of-the-oven cookies were packaged to deliver to a friend along with these pretty flowers to celebrate her retirement.
And I did manage to resist eating TOO many of the remainder! #thankgoodnessforfamily
Enjoy!
Other posts you might enjoy:
Best EVER brownies (I do not make this claim lightly!)
Easy one-bowl butterscotch brownies
