Snickerdoodles are a beloved American cookie. Unless, of course, they’re really English or German or Dutch in origin. Are they from New England or Pennsylvania Dutch country? The answers depend upon which source you consult.
What’s not in dispute is how delicious they are or how easy to make. They are, at heart, a buttery sugar cookie but dressed up with cinnamon sugar. Their distinctive crinkles develop in the oven and they are known for being crisp on first bite but soft inside. There’s something here for everyone.
I suspect this version is an old recipe; instead of using baking powder it uses cream of tartar, also called potassium acid tartrate, and baking soda, which needs an acidic ingredient to be activiated.
I don’t know the originator of this recipe. I found it ages ago on the now-defunct cookierecipe.com, which was one of the original sites that became allrecipes.com. An identical version is also online at What’s Cooking America and I’m sure it appears elsewhere too. It is simply the best version of a snickerdoodle I’ve ever tried, and my friends outside the US will see from the notes that I, too, measure by weight and adjusted accordingly. I’ve also clarified the directions.
Like most cookies, by the time they look done they are overdone. Pull them from the oven when the cookie inside the crinkles still looks moist. [click to enlarge] They will darken a little as they cool, but not to the degree and yellowness I see on my monitor for the upper photo.
This recipe halves well and the dough freezes beautifully.
Snickerdoodles
1/2 cup / 96g vegetable shortening
1/2 cup / 112g unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups / 300g sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups / 370g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400F / 205C. Line a baking sheet with parchment or leave ungreased.
Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a bowl, mix well and set aside. In a small bowl, mix the 2TB of cinnamon and 2TB sugar and reserve.
In a large bowl, cream the butter, vegetable shortening and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat well to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix well.
Form the dough into balls a little smaller than a golf ball, about 1 tablespoon. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on the baking sheet. [I keep cinnamon sugar in a little shaker bottle and just shake it on. ella]
Bake 8 – 10 minutes until set but still looking somewhat underdone. Immediately slide the parchment onto the counter to cool or let cool briefly and transfer to a rack.
Yield: 4 – 5 dozen
Ella’s notes: My recipes usually specify 124 grams per cup of American all-purpose flour. That doesn’t work here. Allow 135 grams per cup if scaling up or down.
If you can’t find vegetable shortening use all butter, but chill the dough before baking or the cookies will spread too much.
Copyright (C) 2008 From Scratch All Rights Reserved 
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Those look delicious. My husband is a cinnamon freak! But sometimes I have had snickerdoodles or sugar cookies that taste funny, like too much baking soda or something. I bet yours don’t do that.
LOVED the choc/pb muffin recipie! And I agree, choc & pb are a heavenly combination!
One more thing… on your topic list it looks like you are “baking Barack Obama “– lol!
Goldie’s last blog post..An Orchestra of Voices
Hi, Goldie! No, there’s no aftertaste at all with these cookies. I wonder if cookies that taste funny to you are made with baking powder that includes aluminum? Yes, aluminum.
Many people can taste it and most American brands do have it. One exception is Rumford, in the red can. It says Aluminum-free right on the front. I find it at the supermarket — it’s the only brand I’ll use — but in some areas a trip to the natural foods store or Whole Foods is in order.
Those dark chocolate cupcakes are killer, aren’t they?
I KNEW you could tell me why I hated baking soda/powder taste! I baited you to see if you would answer my question without even asking the question. You so good!
Will let you know when I bake the cupcakes…*mouth watering*
Goldie’s last blog post..An Orchestra of Voices
Well, I certainly don’t know everything, or even close, but I do know some things.
aluminum in baking powder???? what is the purpose of putting that in there in the first place? OMG.
dissfunktional’s last blog post..Did You Know?
Hi, diss…good question. Here’s the answer. It’s food chemistry.
You know how baking powders are often called “double acting”? That’s because part of their work happens in the mixing bowl and part in the oven. The presence of sodium aluminun sulfate delays most of the leavening until the oven.
With a natural powder, such as Rumford, much of the action happens in the mixing bowl so it’s more important to get the stuff into the oven quickly. And some people don’t like that.
When I make triple-layer cakes I always put the batter for the 3rd layer in the fridge to retard the leavening while the first 2 layers bake.
Hmm..maybe I should do a post about this sometime?
Thanks for asking!
How much vanilla extract?
Whoopsie daisy! 2 teaspoons. I’ll fix that right now. Thanks!
to much salt but otherwise there deliouse
I’m glad you liked them.