Snickerdoodles (Soft Christmas Cinnamon Cookies)
The snickerdoodles are irresistible soft shortbread cookies rolled in a mix of sugar and cinnamon, likely of American origin, are a real delight! The aroma of butter, cinnamon, and vanilla spreads throughout the house and they disappear in a flash, one leads to another, a true winter comfort food.
For cinnamon lovers, these are unmissable cookies, the classic Christmas cookies, perfect to make at Christmas and to package as DIY gifts to put under the Christmas tree.
In this recipe, besides baking powder, you also need to add cream of tartar. It seems this is the secret to perfect snickerdoodles.
However, if you really can’t find cream of tartar, replace it with a total of 8g of baking powder (thus removing the 7g of cream of tartar and the 4g of baking powder and adding ONLY 8g of baking powder in total), it’s not a big issue, they are equally good, but the cream of tartar makes them special.
If you’re looking for (sweet and savory) recipes for the Christmas menu, click on my Christmas/New Year Special (you’ll also find recipes for a winter Christmas brunch).
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 22 cookies
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: International
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients for Snickerdoodles (Soft Christmas Cinnamon Cookies)
- 400 g all-purpose flour (I use Caputo pastry)
- 1 cup butter (softened)
- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup muscovado sugar
- 2 eggs (at ROOM temperature)
- 7 g cream of tartar
- 4 g baking powder
- 4 g fine salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Tools for Snickerdoodles (Soft Christmas Cinnamon Cookies)
- Bowls Guzzini set of bowls of various sizes
- Stand Mixer Kenwood with 1400 W power, illuminated bowl
- Baking Sheet non-stick perforated
- Containers Christmas tin containers for cookies
Steps for Snickerdoodles (Soft Christmas Cinnamon Cookies)
Take a bowl and mix well 2 tsp of ground cinnamon and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, sifted. Set aside.
Take another bowl and sift: 400 g of flour, 4 g of baking powder, 7 g of cream of tartar, and 4 g of fine salt.
Then pour into the stand mixer’s bowl: 1 cup of softened butter, 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 cup of muscovado sugar, and the vanilla extract.
Beat the dough with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes at maximum speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula occasionally. The mixture should become light and fluffy.
Add one egg, beat for one minute at maximum speed, add the other egg and beat for 2 minutes at maximum speed. Then add the flour all at once, at minimum speed, for only about 30 seconds.
Once the flour is added, do not overmix the dough, as soon as it is homogeneously combined, stop the mixer.
Roll the dough into a single ball and from it (using very little flour) form balls of about 40g with your hands (if you wish, you can weigh them) and you will get about 22/24, forming nice round balls (they will flatten and spread during baking).
Roll the balls well in the cinnamon sugar mix set aside earlier, don’t worry about making regular balls, it doesn’t matter, these cookies are characterized by a cracked surface.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet, preferably perforated, lined with parchment paper. You need to space them well, so I recommend baking about 8 cookies at a time.
Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes at 350°F in a preheated oven (depending on your oven). They should not be over-baked, as they need to be crisp on the outside and soft inside.
Once baked, let them cool and then using an angled spatula, transfer them gently to a container, preferably these Christmas tin cookie boxes.
Baked cookies keep for a week in an airtight container. Raw dough can be frozen for 3 months.
Shopping Tips!!!
For working dough effortlessly, I use the my Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with 7L illuminated bowl, 1400 W power, integrated scale, and blender, a faithful ally in the kitchen for: kneading, weighing, whipping, cooking, chopping, melting chocolate, pasteurizing eggs.
If instead, you are looking for a more economical stand mixer, you can safely purchase the Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker stand mixer, with double bowl of 5L and 3.5L and 1200 W power, integrated scale.
For baking cookies, this non-stick perforated baking sheet is ideal, very convenient because it does not need to be greased or buttered, the small holes ensure foods (especially shortcrust pastry and pizza) are crisp, cooked evenly
Ideal for gently removing cookies from the baking sheet, without the risk of breaking them is this angled spatula.
These Christmas tin boxes are adorable, for DIY Christmas gifts, you can find them on Amazon (but if you like them, hurry to buy them, because every year they sell out quickly!).
You can purchase all the items I recommend above on Amazon, at a great price, just click directly on the respective links.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What are Snickerdoodles?
Snickerdoodles are American cinnamon cookies.
What is cream of tartar?
Cream of tartar (or tartaric acid) is commonly used in baking mainly as a leavening and stabilizing agent.
How can cream of tartar be substituted?
It is possible to replace cream of tartar with traditional baking powder or yeast (I provide the precise doses for this recipe above).
Does the Snickerdoodles dough need to rest in the fridge?
No, because otherwise, the sugar and cinnamon mix won’t adhere well to the cold surface of the cookies.
