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    Kelly Neil » Recipes » Fall

    Snickerdoodles Without Cream Of Tartar

    Published: Sep 26, 2020 · Modified: Dec 15, 2021 by Kelly Neil · 22 Comments

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    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe
    Snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are the old-fashioned classic cookie, without the acrid, metallic taste! An traditional go-to, with no chilling required.
    Prep Time: 20 mins
    Cook Time: 13 mins
    Total Time: 33 mins
    A large glass of platter of snickerdoodles without cream of tartar with two hands holding the edges of the platter.

    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!

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Step-By-Step Instructions
    • Notes & Tips
    • Substitutions
    • 🖨 Recipe
    Ingredients to make snickerdoodles without cream of tartar laid out on a stone surface.

    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.

    A bowl of flour, baking poweder, baking soda, and salt mixed with a fork.

    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.

    A hand using a hand mixer to cream butter and sugar.

    Crack in the egg and add the vanilla.

    A hand pouring vanilla extract from a small bowl into a large glass bowl of creamed butter and egg.

    Continue to mix until the egg is well combined.

    Egg and vanilla being creamed into butter and sugar with a hand mixer.
    A hand using a hand mixer to cream butter and sugar.

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

    A hand holding a hand mixer to mix flour into butter in a glass bowl.
    A glass bowl of cookie 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

    Six cookie balls about to be rolled in 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.

    A hand rolling cookie balls 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.

    Six unbaked cookie balls on a baking sheet.

    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.

    A pan of six baked snickerdoodles without cream of tartar.

    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.
    A pile of snickerdoodles without cream of tartar on a stone surface.

    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

    • Instant Pot Dulce De Leche
    • Earl Grey Yogurt Cake
    • Dutch Oven Apple Crisp
    • Microwave Lemon Curd

    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

    A large glass of platter of snickerdoodles without cream of tartar with two hands holding the edges of the platter.

    Snickerdoodles Without Cream Of Tartar

    Author: Kelly Neil
    Snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are the old-fashioned classic cookie, without the acrid, metallic taste! An traditional go-to, with no chilling required.
    4.67 from 87 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe Saved!
    Prep Time 20 mins
    Cook Time 13 mins
    Total Time 33 mins
    Course Cookies & Bars
    Cuisine American / Canadian
    Servings 12 servings
    Calories 99 kcal

    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.

    Video

    Notes

    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 snickerdoodles will be.
    For extra cinnamon 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.
    I’ve made this recipe into approximately 12 x 39 gram cookie dough balls. You could make smaller snickerdoodles, however, the baking time will change. 

    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

    Serving: 39gCalories: 99kcalCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 147mgPotassium: 37mgFiber: 1gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 41IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 1mg
    Did you make this recipe?Let me know on Instagram @kellyneildotcom or tag #kellyneil!

    More Fall Recipes

    • Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
    • Chicken Florentine Soup
    • Pistachio Ice Cream
    • Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders
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    Comments

    1. whitney b. says

      December 19, 2020 at 8:19 pm

      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 🙂

      Reply
      • Kelly says

        December 20, 2020 at 10:07 am

        Oh, that’s so awesome Whitney!I’m so happy you liked them. Thanks so much for letting me know!

        Reply
    2. Marcia heid says

      December 20, 2020 at 10:21 am

      Ty for this recipe I ran out of cream of tartar and this is great

      Reply
    3. Rebecca says

      December 20, 2020 at 10:21 pm

      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!! 😊

      Reply
    4. Em says

      December 21, 2020 at 7:20 am

      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.

      Reply
      • Nicole says

        December 22, 2020 at 8:26 pm

        Same here.

        Reply
        • Kelly says

          December 23, 2020 at 12:07 pm

          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!

          Reply
      • Kelly says

        December 23, 2020 at 12:09 pm

        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!

        Reply
        • Angela says

          December 24, 2020 at 10:17 pm

          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 🙁

          Reply
          • Kelly says

            December 27, 2020 at 6:54 pm

            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!

            Reply
    5. Jill McBride says

      December 24, 2020 at 7:05 pm

      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. 😁

      Reply
      • Kelly says

        December 27, 2020 at 6:55 pm

        Aww, that’s awesome! Man I love a quick easy recipe so much. Thank you for coming back to let me know! xo!

        Reply
    6. Tmw says

      December 24, 2020 at 7:24 pm

      Made these tonight for Christmas! Followed the directions to a T and They absolutely come out chewy and delicious!

      Reply
      • Kelly says

        December 27, 2020 at 6:54 pm

        Yay, thanks for letting me know! I’m so happy you liked them. 🙂

        Reply
    7. Nicol says

      January 01, 2021 at 1:54 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • Kelly says

        January 03, 2021 at 9:22 am

        Aw, this makes me so happy to hear! I’m so glad they lived up to your memory. Thank you for letting me know! 🙂

        Reply
    8. Sophia Sultan says

      January 27, 2021 at 7:13 pm

      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!

      Reply
    9. MOLLY WATKINS says

      February 03, 2021 at 9:28 pm

      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.”

      Reply
    10. JB says

      May 16, 2021 at 9:31 pm

      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!

      Reply
    11. Anzu says

      July 11, 2021 at 1:22 am

      Best recipe ever!! My first-ever snickerdoodles turned out perfect!

      Reply
    12. Dawn says

      October 17, 2022 at 8:39 pm

      5 stars
      Your cookies are delicious!!! I doubled the recipe and they turned out perfect! Thank you so much for the recipe!🙂

      Reply
    13. Lila J says

      December 13, 2022 at 9:59 pm

      5 stars
      Really tasty! Bookmarking this recipe to make it again!

      Reply

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