Snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are the soft, chewy classic cookie without the acrid, metallic taste! An old-fashioned go to, with no chilling required.
Essentially old-fashioned cinnamon sugar cookies, these snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are soft-baked with a pillowy, cakey middle. They are thick and puffy, with the familiar crackle-top, however, I’ve ditched the cream of tartar. I know some people will argue it’s not a snickerdoodle cookie without the cream of tartar, but to be honest? I hate the weird tinny taste of it.
I like to roll my cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar twice for extra flavour. I promise, these snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are so good, you won’t even notice the difference from the original!
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- butter
- sugar
- 1 egg
- vanilla
- cinnamon
Step-By-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Using a hand or stand mixer on medium-high speed, cream together the butter and sugar until the butter is pale and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Crack in the egg and add the vanilla.
Continue to mix until the egg is well combined.
Add the dry flour mixture to the butter mixture. Keep mixing until everything comes together in a soft dough.
Combine the remaining sugar and the cinnamon together on a plate and mix together with a fork.
Using your hands, roll the dough into 12 equally-sized balls (I use a scale to weigh the balls, approximately 39 grams each). The dough will be quite sticky! Don’t worry, this is normal. Place six of the balls on the plate of cinnamon sugar
Roll the cookie balls around with your hands to coat the outsides completely. You may have to re-shape the dough a bit to make the balls round again after rolling.
Once the cookie balls are well-coated in cinnamon sugar, roll each of them again to double coat in cinnamon sugar.
Place the snickerdoodle cookie balls on the two prepared baking sheets, six cookies per tray. Because these snickerdoodles are fairly large, I like to give them lots of space.
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the bottoms and edges are lightly golden. Carefully remove the cookies from the baking sheets immediately, and cool them on a wire rack.
Notes & Tips
Make sure your butter is soft before you begin. Room temperature is usually ok, but may take a little longer to cream depending on how cool your house is.
Cream the butter and sugar together for at least five minutes. The more air you whip into the butter, the lighter and fluffier your cookies will be.
Once the snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are baked, lift them off of the baking tray right away and transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Removing them quickly from the heat source keeps the insides soft and chewy.
I’ve made this recipe to yield approximately 12 x 39 gram cookie dough balls. You could make smaller snickerdoodles without cream of tartar, however, note that the baking time will change. I haven’t tested it, but I would consider making (approximately) 24 x 19-gram cookie balls (with a bit left over), baking them for 7 to 8 minutes, then checking for doneness.
Substitutions
You can substitute the all-purpose flour 1:1 for light spelt flour, or swap in whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose flour if you want.
Substitute raw organic cane sugar for white sugar if you like.
Homemade chai spice, or homemade pumpkin spice, are fun alternatives to straight up cinnamon in these snickerdoodles without cream of tartar.
More Tasty Cookies & Bars
Nova Scotia Oatcakes A buttery and crisp cookie most often associated with Cape Breton.
Chai-Spiced Rice Krispie Treats A tasty, no-bake sweet loved by kids and adults alike! The spicy, peppery flavour has cool weather written all over it.
Lavender Sugar Cookies With Earl Grey Glaze A twist on a classic!
Be sure to check for step-by-step pics above!☝🏻Also, if you make this recipe and love it, please come back and give it a 5-star rating — it helps more people find the recipe!💗
Snickerdoodles Without Cream Of Tartar
Snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are the old-fashioned classic cookie, without the acrid, metallic taste! An traditional go-to, with no chilling required.
Ingredients
- 1-¼ cup (187 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, soft
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar, plus extra for rolling the cookies
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus extra if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a hand or stand mixer on medium-high speed, cream together the butter and sugar until the butter is pale and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Crack in the egg and add the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix until the egg is well combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed to a soft dough.
- Mix the cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of sugar together on a plate. With your hands, roll the dough into 12 equally-sized balls (approximately 39 g each). The dough will be quite sticky! Place the balls on the plate of cinnamon sugar and roll them around with your hands to coat the outsides completely. Add more cinnamon and sugar to the plate if you need. Place the cookie balls on the prepared baking sheets, six cookies per tray. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the bottoms and edges are lightly golden. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and carefully transfer the hot cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
I had a couple of readers comment their snickerdoodles weren't chewy as the description says — the reader comments are correct, these cookies are more puffy and cakey than chewy. If you prefer a softer chewier cookie, use ¼ cup (50 g) of white sugar and ¼ cup (60 g) of tightly packed brown sugar in place of the full ½ cup of white sugar.
If you want your cookies to have a deeper cinnamon flavour, add 1-½ to 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and/or see my note below about double-rolling the cookie dough balls in cinnamon sugar.
For the best cinnamon flavour, use recently purchased or opened cinnamon rather than a bottle lapsing in the back of your pantry for the last couple of years.
Make sure your butter is soft before you begin. Room temperature is usually ok, but may take a little longer to cream depending on how cool your house is.
Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. The more air you whip into the butter, the lighter your snickerdoodle without cream of tartar will be.
For extra flavour, roll the cookie dough balls in the cinnamon sugar twice rather than just the one time.
Once the cookies are baked, lift them off of the baking tray right away and transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Removing them quickly from the heat source keeps the insides soft and chewy.
I've made this recipe into approximately 12 x 39 gram cookie dough balls. You could make smaller snickerdoodles without cream of tartar, however, note that the baking time will change. For example, I've made the recipe using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop. Each of the cookies weighed about 15 grams and were perfectly baked at 10 minutes.
SUBSTITUTIONS
You can substitute the all-purpose flour 1:1 for light spelt flour, or swap in whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose flour if you want.
Substitute raw organic cane sugar for white sugar if you like.
Homemade chai spice, or homemade pumpkin spice, are fun alternatives to straight up cinnamon in these snickerdoodles without cream of tartar.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 172Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 153mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 5g
DISCLAIMER - NUTRITIONAL DATA IS PROVIDED BY A CALCULATOR AND IS A ROUGH ESTIMATION OF THE NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION IN THIS RECIPE.
i doubled this recipe and the cookies turned out great. thanks for putting this together for those of us who never seem to have cream of tartar on hand 🙂
Oh, that’s so awesome Whitney!I’m so happy you liked them. Thanks so much for letting me know!
Ty for this recipe I ran out of cream of tartar and this is great
Stumbled upon your recipe while having a snickerdoodle craving and WOW they are my new favorite! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! Absolutely delicious!! 😊
I must have give wrong somewhere as my cookies turned out puffy and cake-like instead of chewy. Also found the cinnamon flavour to be lacking somewhat.
Same here.
Nicole, thank you so much for your feedback! I tested the recipe again this morning, adding cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and substituting brown sugar for half of the white sugar. The result is a more cinnamon-tasting, chewy cookie and I’ve updated the recipe card to reflect this. Thank you again very much for your comment!
Erin, thank you so much for your comment. I tested the recipe again this morning, adding cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and substituting brown sugar for half of the white sugar. The result is a more cinnamon-tasting, chewy cookie and I’ve updated the recipe card notes to reflect this option. I realize now I should have chosen my wording more carefully as you’re absolutely right, the cookies are more puffy and cakey than chewy. I truly appreciate you taking the time to come back and let me know so I could use the opportunity to make them better! Merry Christmas!
I think there is way too much baking powder in this recipe for how little flour it calls for. I followed your recipe exactly and found the taste of baking powder WAY too strong and had to throw out the whole batch 🙁
Hmmmm, I’ve made these many times, have tested and re-tested the recipe, and even baked them with my four-year old a few days ago to leave out for Santa Claus. My family really likes them, and others have left comments they’ve made the recipe with great results, so I’m, not sure what happened there. I’m so sorry it was a waste of time and ingredients for you!
Thank you so much for posting this wonderful recipe! I found your recipe and (literally) had them in the oven within about 30 minutes. They were absolutely delicious! Santa will love them, I’m sure. 😁
Aww, that’s awesome! Man I love a quick easy recipe so much. Thank you for coming back to let me know! xo!
Made these tonight for Christmas! Followed the directions to a T and They absolutely come out chewy and delicious!
Yay, thanks for letting me know! I’m so happy you liked them. 🙂
Hi! Thanks for the recipe. I found out it is the closest I have ever come to one of the best cookies I ever tasted in the UK about 9 years ago. Never could get the taste right when I tried to replicate. But this is almost spot on, taste and texture-wise. Now I can make my own! Thanks so much again for this recipe, it is amazing, the cookies are amazing and I can’t get enough!
Aw, this makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad they lived up to your memory. Thank you for letting me know! 🙂
These were the best cookies ever!!!! My mom, who hates sugar loves these! Thank you so much for your recipe! I can’t wait to try more!
I’m glad I followed my husband’s advice and made this recipe. He said it was ridiculous not to make snickerdoodles simply because we were out of cream of tartar. These were delicious! Super quick to make. I did set them out on the porch for about 10 minutes to firm them up before rolling. We went to Nova Scotia on our honeymoon, so these will now be “the Nova Scotian snickerdoodles.”
These were perfection! Chewy and delicious. I subbed about 1/2 c of the sugar for brown sugar. Done at 12 minutes. Thank you for the answer to my cream of tartar pinch!
Best recipe ever!! My first-ever snickerdoodles turned out perfect!