Home › Recipe Index › Dessert › Cookies

The Best Snickerdoodles

Averie Sunshine

4.48 from 191 votes

Updated: Nov 10, 2025

JUMP to RECIPE ▼

❤️💚🎁 The BEST Snickerdoodles Recipe makes soft, pillowy puffs that are so irresistible! It’s the closest recipe to Mrs. Fields’ snickerdoodles that you’ll find!

Easy Snickerdoodle Recipe 

A good snickerdoodle is hard to come by, but this recipe is my favorite. Soft with a slightly chewy texture and pillowy little puffs of goodness that I can’t stay away from!

• As mentioned, these homemade snickerdoodle cookies are slightly chewy around the edges with soft, pillowy centers.
• They’re buttery with a light cinnamon-sugar coating. Not too heavy, just classic snickerdoodle. If you’re a cinnamon fiend, I recommend making my Soft and Chewy Cinnamon Chip Snickerdoodles instead. 

This recipe is everything I want in a classic snickerdoodle cookie, and my family agreed by eating the whole batch on the afternoon I made them. I sent a dozen cookies with them to the beach for the afternoon, somewhat expecting they’d come back with a few left over. That was clearly foolish thinking. So, I highly recommend making an extra batch!

Ingredients and Notes

For this homemade snickerdoodles cookie recipe, you’ll need: 

• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Light brown sugar
• Egg
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Cream of tartar – Cream of tartar (sold in the spice aisle) is the leavener that gives the cookies lift, lightness, provides the signature tang, and is key for this recipe. Don’t skip it, or you won’t end up with the best snickerdoodles. If you don’t have cream of tartar on hand but want to make snickerdoodles immediately, try my White Chocolate Snickerdoodles or my Chewy Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies instead. 
• Salt
• Cinnamon

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Snickerdoodles 

Don’t let the tasty cinnamon sugar coating fool you into thinking homemade snickerdoodles are hard to make. These cookies are actually one of the easiest I’ve ever made! 

1. Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. 
2. Scoop the snickerdoodle cookie dough into balls and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to five days. I used a 2-inch cookie scoop to form these cookies (about 2 heaping tablespoons). You’re welcome to make larger cookies, but if you do that, you’ll need to add a couple of minutes to the bake time. You MUST chill the dough before baking so your cookies bake up thick and full. Unchilled dough will result in cookies that are prone to spreading, and they’ll be much thinner and flatter. 
3. Once the cookie dough has chilled, roll each ball into the cinnamon sugar before baking. Feel free to add more or less cinnamon to the cinnamon-sugar coating to suit your preferences. Or, double roll the cookie dough balls. I like my snickerdoodles to have a good amount of cinnamon flavor on them, but I know not everyone likes it as much as I do! 
4. Bake on a cookie sheet just until the edges are set and the tops have just set. When making this chewy snickerdoodle recipe, I underbake them by a minute or two to ensure the centers are extra soft. Underbaking also helps the cookies stay softer and fresher over time, but you can bake longer if you prefer more well-done or firmer cookies.
5. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes before serving with a big glass of milk. 

Remove Ads Review Save Saved Print

4.48 from 191 votes

The Best Snickerdoodles

By Averie Sunshine

❤️💚🎁 These really are the best snickerdoodles! Soft and pillowy, these are the closest recipe to Mrs. Fields snickerdoodles that you'll find!

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes minutes

Chill Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 19 minutes minutes

Servings: 14 servings

Equipment

• 1 Stand Mixer Fitted with a Paddle Attachment
• 1 medium cookie scoop
• 1 Baking Sheet
• 1 Large Bowl

Ingredients 

Dough

• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

For Rolling

• ▢ ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions 

• To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) combine the butter, sugars, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes.
• Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
• Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
• Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop or your hands, form approximately 14 equal-sized mounds of dough (2 heaping tablespoons each), roll into balls, and flatten slightly.
• Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
• Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and stir to combine.
• Dredge each mound of dough through cinnamon-sugar.
• Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet) and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake for soft, pillowy cookies. For firmer cookies, bake a minute or two longer. Cookies firm up as they cool.
• Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.

Notes

Storage: Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 4 months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 172cal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 31mg, Sodium: 90mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 15g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.

↓ Click the Stars to Rate This Recipe ↓

Tried this recipe? Leave a review!

Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!

More Easy Cookie Recipes:

ALL OF MY COOKIE RECIPES!

Chai Snickerdoodle Cookies — The soft, buttery dough soaks up the warming notes of the chai spices beautifully! 

One-Bowl, No-Mixer, No-Chill Oatmeal Cookies — An incredibly FAST and EASY recipe that produces perfectly thick cookies with chewy edges and soft centers! One bowl to wash, no mixer to drag out, and no waiting around!

Softbatch Funfetti Sugar Cookies — These funfetti cookies are essentially sugar cookies from scratch that have been loaded with sprinkles. They have that nostalgic boxed cake flavor but are 100% homemade! 

Cowboy Cookies — These cowboy cookies are packed with oats, chocolate chips, Cornflakes, and shredded coconut. This is a flexible recipe that you can make with different mix-ins to suit whatever is in your pantry! 

Easy 4-Ingredient Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies — These 4-ingredient peanut butter cookies are made with a secret ingredient…and lots of peanut butter, of course! These are so easy and fast to make!

The Best Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies — One of my absolute favorite recipes for chocolate chip cookies thanks to a special ingredient! Just one bite and I think you’ll agree!

The Best Soft & Chewy M&M’s Cookies — These bakery-style M&M’s cookies are soft, chewy, buttery, and LOADED with M&M’s and chocolate chips. No one can resist these cookies!

Frosted Soft Sugar Cookies – Super SOFT sugar cookies that just melt in your mouth! If you’ve ever thought that sugar cookies can be boring or dry, this EASY recipe with frosting and sprinkles will change your mind!