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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
Essentially old-fashioned cinnamon sugar cookies, these snickerdoodles without cream of tartar are soft-baked with a pillowy 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 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
- 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 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 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
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
Course Cookies & Bars
Cuisine American / Canadian
Servings 12 servings
Calories 99 kcal
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2 baking sheet(s)
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Parchment paper
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measuring cups and spoons or digital kitchen scale
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2 large mixing bowls only one if using stand mixer
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electric hand mixer if not using stand mixer
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stand mixer if not using hand mixer
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small shallow plate or bowl for cinnamon sugar
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wire cooling rack
- ▢ 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
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.
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.
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