We like this recipe because it doesn’t require cream of tartar and they still turn out great. You should notice an “OR” where baking powder is listed in the ingredients: if you have cream of tartar that’s where you’d sub out baking powder with that and baking soda. I tried to break up the instructions as well for you to choose whether or not you have cream of tartar. The puff up much more with cream of tartar, but it’s a little trickier to bake.
Did you know cream of tartar is a byproduct of wine fermentation? Allrecipes has a fun read on what it is and how it’s used.
Snickerdoodle Cookies
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Prep Time:
15m
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Cook Time:
10m
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Total Time:
25m
Ingredients
Dough
- 3/4 c Sugar
- 1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 Large egg
- 1/2 tsp. Salt (If you use salted butter, decrease the salt to 1/4 teaspoon)
- 1 tsp. Baking powder OR 1 tsp cream of tartar and 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 c Unbleached bread flour
Coating
- 2 tbsp. Sugar
- 1 tsp. Ground cinnamon
- 2 pinches Allspice
- 1 pinch Nutmeg
Instructions
Baking Powder Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, beating until smooth.
- Beat in the vanilla, salt, and baking powder.
Cream of Tartar Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg, beating until smooth.
- Beat in the vanilla, salt, cream of tartar, and baking powder.
All Recipes
- Add the flour bit by bit, mixing until fully incorporated.
- To make the coating, shake together the sugar and cinnamon in a small/medium zip-top plastic bag.
- Drop small (~1" diameter) balls of dough into the bag (a teaspoon cookie scoop works well here). Roll/toss the cookies in the cinnamon-sugar until they're completely coated.
- Place the cookies at least 1 1/2" apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use a flat-bottom glass to flatten them to about 3/8" thick - they'll be about 1 1/2" in diameter.
- For baking powder, bake the cookies for 8 minutes (for soft cookies) to 10 minutes (for crunchier cookies). Remove them from the oven, and cool them on the pan until they're firm enough to transfer to a rack to cool completely. 10 minutes was perfect for us.
For cream of tartar, bake for 11-13 minutes. Our sweet spot is somewhere between 12 and 13 minutes.
