Tried-and-true classic cookies are kind of the best, aren’t they? I’m talking about traditional recipes like chocolate chip pecan cookies and brown sugar shortbread cookies. I can make them time and time again and they always taste as good as my memory imagines them to be. My only exception to this rule is this recipe for snickerdoodles without cream of tartar.
Essentially old-fashioned cinnamon sugar cookies, snickerdoodles are thick and soft, with a familiar crackle-top. You’ll see here though I’ve ditched one classic ingredient—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 flavor. I promise, these cookies are so good, you won’t even notice the difference from the original!
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butter
- Sugar
- One large egg
- Vanilla extract
- Ground cinnamon
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of this post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the PRINTABLE recipe card with ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
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 outside completely. You may have to reshape 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 is a tasty alternative to cinnamon.
More Dessert Recipes
Did you make these snickerdoodles without cream of tartar? Please rate the recipe and tell me how it went in the comments below. Also, stay in touch with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to see more delicious food and recipes!
🖨 Recipe
Snickerdoodles Without Cream Of Tartar
Equipment
- 2 Baking sheet(s)
- Parchment paper
- Measuring cups and spoons or digital kitchen scale
- 2 Large mixing bowls only one if using stand mixer
- Electric hand mixer if not using stand mixer
- Stand mixer if not using hand mixer
- Small shallow bowl, or plate for cinnamon sugar
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, soft
- ½ cup sugar, plus extra for rolling the cookies
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 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 in a second mixing bowl until the butter is pale and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter. Mix on high speed until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl halfway through mixing.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter. Mix together on low speed until a soft dough forms.
- Mix the remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with 1 teaspoon of sugar on a plate. Roll the dough into 12 equally-sized balls (approximately 39 g each) with your hands. The dough will be quite sticky! Place the balls on the plate of cinnamon sugar and roll them around 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 sheet. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the bottoms and edges are pale gold. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and carefully transfer the hot cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
whitney b. says
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 🙂
Kelly says
Oh, that’s so awesome Whitney!I’m so happy you liked them. Thanks so much for letting me know!
Marcia heid says
Ty for this recipe I ran out of cream of tartar and this is great
Rebecca says
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!! 😊
Em says
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.
Nicole says
Same here.
Kelly says
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!
Kelly says
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!
Angela says
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 🙁
Kelly says
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!
Jill McBride says
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. 😁
Kelly says
Aww, that’s awesome! Man I love a quick easy recipe so much. Thank you for coming back to let me know! xo!
Tmw says
Made these tonight for Christmas! Followed the directions to a T and They absolutely come out chewy and delicious!
Kelly says
Yay, thanks for letting me know! I’m so happy you liked them. 🙂
Nicol says
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!
Kelly says
Aw, this makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad they lived up to your memory. Thank you for letting me know! 🙂
Sophia Sultan says
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!
MOLLY WATKINS says
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.”
JB says
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!
Anzu says
Best recipe ever!! My first-ever snickerdoodles turned out perfect!
Dawn says
Your cookies are delicious!!! I doubled the recipe and they turned out perfect! Thank you so much for the recipe!🙂
Lila J says
Really tasty! Bookmarking this recipe to make it again!