Two weeks after making them, these brown sugar snickerdoodles are still as soft as the day we baked them! It’s amazing, really. Usually cookies dry out and get crumbly, but not these! On top of that, you can freeze the dough balls so they’re ready to bake in case some unexpected guests pop in, or you just have a sudden hankering for Snickerdoodle Cookies! These may be the best ones we’ve ever tasted and, for sure, they’re the best we’ve ever made!
In most Snickerdoodle recipes, the cookie dough is made with white sugar, but we just love that caramel taste of brown sugar and it worked so well in this recipe. If you don’t have cream of tartar in your spice drawer, you will have to add this to your shopping list. The signature tangy flavor of the cookies comes from this key ingredient and it also helps maintain the soft cookie texture. You’ll want to have cream of tartar for the tang, baking soda for the leavening and brown sugar for our brand of snickerdoodles! Then, you’re going to roll them in cinnamon sugar before baking. The key to making the perfect soft texture in this cookie recipe is to slightly underbake them. You just want to see the edges turn golden-brown and that’s about all the heat it takes — maybe 8-10 minutes! Also, by using a cookie scoop, you will make perfectly round cookies. My nephew gave me one of those a year ago, and I LOVE that gadget! Ours is about 1 1/2-inches in diameter and we find that it makes the perfect size cookies.
Brown Sugar Snickerdoodles
Equipment
- 1 1 1/2-inch Cookie Scoop optional
- 1 standing mixer or handheld electric beater
- 1 cookie baking sheet
Ingredients
- 8 oz. unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar for topping
- 2 tsp. cinnamon for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Mix the 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon in a small bowl for rolling the cookie dough balls in. Set aside.
- Place butter in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your standing mixer. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add both white and brown sugar and continue to beat until fully integrated and fluffy. Stir in vanilla and beat to incorporate.
- Add eggs and beat well.
- Add all dries (flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt) and using the slow speed on your mixer, beat until the dough is thoroughly incorporated.
- Form the dough into balls using a cookie scoop or just eyeballing it! The balls should be approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter for 3-inch finished cookies. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar to generously coat the entire dough ball with the sugar mixture.
- Place the sugared dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just begin to brown. Remove from oven and cool completely.
- These cookies store very well in a plastic container or a baggie for up to two weeks, and still remain soft and chewy!
Love this recipe!! Cream of tartar is a staple in my kitchen. I love the step by step pictures, very helpful!! Sending love ❤️ Mariela
Thank you so much, Mariela! So happy you like the post and the recipe! We love these cookies, but we also love the dough … it’s a wonder any get baked!🍪
I like the cookies but think I will do less flour next time. I’m going to try 2cups flour. I had to bake mine 13 mins with the recipe as it stands I love in low/ normal elevation.
Aniece,
Thank you so much for your feedback! Please let us know how they turn out with the changes you propose! We would love to see how you like them with less flour and longer baking! We found that 8-10 minutes was just right to keep them nice and soft after baking them, but since every oven bakes differently it could be that yours need to bake longer and ours less time! The other difference in the amount of flour needed could be the size of the eggs. These days, we find that within one dozen large eggs, they vary so much in size!
way too much flour they tasted like bread
Hi Amy! I’m sorry these didn’t work out for you! We definitely need the full three cups of flour, and I think it could be that many of the large eggs we get are so big! Ours seem to turn out very flat if we don’t use the amount of flour called for! All that said, if you try them again with a little less flour next time, you can see how you like them. Most recipes call for anywhere from 2 to 3 1/2 cups of flour for 16 oz. of butter, which is a very large variance to be sure! The special thing about these cookies is the light brown sugar in place of granulated sugar!