White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies

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What’s the difference between a sugar cookie and a snickerdoodle?

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies

Not too terribly much from what I can discern.

Sugar cookies are only rolled in sugar whereas snickerdoodles are rolled in both cinnamon and sugar.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies stacked

There’s also some splitting hairs over the type of leavening agent used: baking powder or a combination of baking soda + cream of tartar.

Some recipes call for shortening and butter rather than solely butter when making snickerdoodles.

I did more research on the finer points of sugar cookies and snickerdoodle cookies than one should unless your name is Alton Brown.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies stacked

But I’m all about field research when it has to do with cookies.

I wanted to add a little extra somethin’ somethin’ to these and decided to add white chocolate chips.

White chocolate chip bags in shopping cart

Then again, I love white chocolate as evidence by stockpiling the TJ’s chocolate chips before they became seasonally unavailable which happens after Christmas in my area.

I wish I could stockpile cookie butter but that’s currently a sad storySigh.

You can omit the white chocolate chips if you’re a snickerdoodle purist or you don’t like white chocolate.  I don’t understand you people who don’t like white chocolate but to each her own.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

These cookies are on the thin side but don’t let that deceive you into thinking they’re crunchy.

They’re not.

In fact they’re incredibly chewy.  I only like very soft and chewy cookies and these are so chewy you can bend them.

The brown sugar helps with the chewy factor and keeps them soft and flexible.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

The flavor is spot on to my memories of working at the mall in high school and devouring Mrs. Field’s snickerdoodle cookies on my breaks.  Between Mrs. Field’s and Cinnabons I was in food court heaven.

The cinnamon and sugar granules on these cookies and the teeny bit of graininess that I could feel from the sugar crystals as I chewed reminded me of my fond Mrs. Fields’s days.

My cookies have a hint more vanilla flavoring, by design, too.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

And of course, there’s white chocolate chips, by design.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

 

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White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies (with Vegan and Gluten Free options)

Makes 21 small to medium-sized cookies using my 1 inch cookie scoop.  Or, approximately 12 to 15 larger-sized cookies.

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups flour

optional: 1/2 c white chocolate chips (increase to 2/3 to 3/4 c if you like a lot of chips, or use a combo of white/dark, white/butterscotch, all dark, etc or if you want more traditional sugar cookies, omit chips)

Plus: 1 tbsp cinnamon & 1/4 c white sugar, mixed in a small bowl for dipping/rolling the dough (to retain a true “sugar cookie” rather than snickerdoodle, omit the cinnamon and just roll in sugar)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream together (by hand or in a mixer) softened butter and sugars until very smooth and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.  Stir in the cinnamon, baking soda, and flour and mix until just combined.  Do not overmix.

Stir in the white chocolate chips and place the whole mixing bowl into the freezer for about 10 minutes so that it chills a bit.  You can also chill the dough for an hour or longer in the refrigerator.

While the dough is chilling, prepare the cinnamon sugar mixture for rolling.

After approximately 10 minutes, remove the chilled dough from the freezer and form 1 inch balls.  I highly recommend this cookie scoop.  It has changed the results of my baking dramatically.  Available at Bed Bath & Beyond for about $4 dollars.

Roll the balls through the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on Silpat-lined, parchment-lined or sprayed cookie sheets.

Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes or until just barely set.  Remove cookies from the oven even if they look a bit underdone as they will firm up.  Allow the cookies to cool, well, on the cookie sheets before attempting to remove them.

To make gluten free, use a gluten free flour blend.

To make vegan, use margarine or Earth Balance in place of the butter and use 1 chia/flax egg instead of the egg.  Use vegan white chocolate chips, omit them, or use another chip of your choice.

Notes/Tips:

Cream your butter and sugar very well; make it fluffy which will ensure fluffier cookies.

Do not over-mix the flour once you’ve added it.  This will result in tough cookies.

Chilled dough is key to these cookies retaining some height and not flattening out completely.  If you prefer to chill your dough in the refrigerator for an hour or longer, feel free.

Some recipes call for shortening.  I have read many that use half butter and half shortening, i.e. 1/4 cup of each in a recipe this size, and the shortening will make them puffier, but also crunchier.

Some recipes call for baking soda in addition to or instead of baking powder.  I don’t think it could hurt to add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.  I will trial this in future batches to see the impact and if that makes them puffier.

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This recipe is easy and I got what I wanted: soft and chewy cookies that remind me of the Mrs. Fields snickerdoodles I used to inhale.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

I purposely kept the batch size small.  If you make slightly bigger cookies than I did, we’re talking a dozen to 15 cookies, max.

Around the holidays or post-holidays for all you who are have those pesky New Year’s resolutions, the last thing any of us needs is 3 or 4 dozen of anything.  So that’s your nudge to try these.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

And if you’re a white-chocolate-in-your-cookies fan, one of my favorite recipes of 2011 was the

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

New Years Resolutions are overrated anyway.

Now, it’s time for a cookie.

White Chocolate Snickerdoodles Stacked

 

Do you like snickerdoodles?  Or sugar cookies? Do you use the names interchangeably?

Do you have any cookies, or food or recipes in general, that you pine away for in your memory?

I have to say, Auntie Annie’s Pretzels dipped in butter and cream cheese, Cinnabons with extra frosting, and Mrs. Field’s Snickerdoodles rank right up there for me.

And who says you can’t get a balanced diet from the choices at the mall food court.

And from cookies to stevia, thanks for the NuNaturals Stevia Giveaway entries.

 

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. These look so perfect! I haven’t made snickerdoodles in several years, but I usually sneak a little cinnamon in to most of my baked goods – chocolate chip cookies, brownies, you name it. It adds such a nice depth of flavor.

  2. My favorite snickerdoodle, which you must try, is with a pumpkin spice hershey kiss on top. You can only find the pumpkin spice kisses around halloween/thanksgiving time at Target. I stock up to last through out the year. :)

    1. Kelly, that’s high praise coming from you because your photography is always stunning!

  3. I need to run out to Traders and stock up on white chocolate chips, I can’t remember if they carry it year round or not. Now that you’ve said yours doesn’t I don’t want to take any chances.

  4. But what if you want to keep your weight down, anything else you can substitute for the sugar. I love cookies so much. I have a six month year old baby now so lots family are coming over so i want to make cookie but trying to get my figure back, praying. Chocolate chip and walnuts are my favorite.

  5. I would most definitely take some of these cookies off your hands. They look SO good…and you’re right – who doesn’t love white chocolate?! Having said that though, I haven’t had white chocolate in a long time. I think that’s about to change!

  6. These are the PERFECT thickness, so chewy-looking and of course WHITE CHOCOLATE! They look incredible! And egg-free too, woot :) Pinning this!

    1. Not sure how I managed to not write 1 egg in the ingredients list; I wrote it in the body of the recipe, after creaming the sugars and butter, add the egg…but I edited the ingredients list. And I wrote to keep vegan, use a flax/chia egg…

      And I re-read over it like 10 times…sometimes I can’t see the forest from the trees. Thanks for noticing for me!

      But yes, they turned out to be a great thickness!

      1. Oh! That’s what I get for reading too quickly :P Still, they look amazing!

  7. These snickerdoodles look so great!! I have never tried throwing in white chocolate chips…I bet they taste amazing! :)

  8. My Mom’s snickerdoodle recipe included cream of tarter — and she said that’s what gave it that “special something” — I have never met a cookie I didn’t like. . . but I definitely prefer regular sugar cookies to snickerdoodles (sorry, Mom).