Snickerdoodles Without Cream Of Tartar

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!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Notes & Tips
• Substitutions
• Recipe

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.

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.

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Crack in the egg and add the vanilla.

Continue to mix until the egg is well combined.

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Add the dry flour mixture to the butter mixture. Keep mixing until everything comes together in a soft dough.

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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!

Did you make this recipe? If yes, I would love to know how you made out in the comments below! You can also tag me on Instagram @kellyneildotcom or use the hashtag #kellyneil.