Snickerdoodle cookies are dressed up for the holidays in red, green, and gold sprinkles. Christmas snickerdoodles are soft and chewy, with a subtle tangy flavor and cinnamon sugar crust.
Heather's recipe summary
Flavor/texture: Chewy sugar cookies with a hint of tangy flavor and warm cinnamon rolled in Christmas sprinkles.
Chill time: This recipe requires a 1 hour chill time before baking.
Yield: 36 cookies
Similar to: Soft Molasses Cookies and Sorghum Spice Cookies
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Butter - Unsalted butter and the listed salt can be substituted with salted butter.
- Cream of tartar - Cream of tartar works on three levels in this recipe. It helps your cookies rise (along with the baking soda) in the oven. Cream of tartar also stops sugar crystals from forming in the dough, which creates a softer, chewier cookie. Lastly, it adds the tangy flavor that snickerdoodles are known for. If you don't have cream of tartar on hand, I'd recommend making a batch of Soft Sugar Cookies rolled in a cinnamon-sprinkle mixture.
- Sprinkles - I used red, green, and gold sugar sprinkles. Colors can be adjusted for the season and holiday, or substituted with granulated sugar for a traditional snickerdoodle cookie.
How to make Christmas snickerdoodles
- Cream together butter and sugars, beat in eggs and vanilla, and gradually stir in whisked dry ingredients until just combined.
- Scoop chilled dough with a medium cookie scoop and roll in cinnamon sugar.
- Place prepared dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until puffy, set on the top, and lightly browned around the edges.
Heather's Top Tip
For accurate results every time, use a kitchen scale to measure flour by weight. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
Tips and tricks
Room temperature ingredients - It's important to allow your ingredients to come to room temperature. They create a consistent, creamy, and even dough. When beaten, the eggs and butter form an emulsion, which traps air in the dough and bakes up into a soft and fluffy cookie.
Use parchment paper - A greased baking sheet causes cookies to spread more than they should while baking. Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat instead.
Frequently asked questions
This can happen when your dough is too warm or the baking sheet was greased instead of lined with parchment.
- Don't skip the step of refrigerating your dough. Refrigerating not only helps the flavors meld, but also makes the dough easier to roll into balls and reduces spreading.
- If your dough is still spreading in the oven, try refrigerating the dough balls for 10 minutes, then transfer directly into the oven.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Do not use a greased cookie sheet. A layer of grease/cooking spray makes cookies of any kind spread more in the oven.
Yes! Replace the holiday sprinkles with granulated sugar and make the rest of the recipe as written for traditional snickerdoodle cookies.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Christmas Snickerdoodles
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (149 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (106 g) brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (48 g) colorful sugar sprinkles, reserved for rolling
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon, reserved for rolling
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until creamed and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until creamed and fluffy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, whisk (or sift) together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
- Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.
- Cover bowl or wrap dough in wax paper. Chill for at least 1 hour (up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator. Refrigerating allows the flavors meld and makes dough easier to roll into balls.
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Scoop dough using a medium cookie scoop or shape by hand into 1.5 tablespoon balls.
- In small bowls, divide the cinnamon evenly between your different colors of sugar sprinkles. Gently roll balls in cinnamon-sprinkle mixture to coat. Place cookie dough balls 2 inches apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until puffy and set on the tops and lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Cookie storage: Your cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Dough storage: Raw cookie dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. Cookie dough balls (and baked cookies) freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen balls to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
- For extra cinnamon flavor: Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to your dry ingredients before mixing into the dough.
- Sprinkle options: Sugar sprinkles can be substituted with granulated sugar to make traditional snickerdoodle cookies.
- Tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
Can I use the almond extract instead of vanilla or should it be 1tsp each? And it called for regular butter not unsalted right?
Hi Carrie, I'd recommend substituting vanilla with half the amount of almond extract because it has a more potent flavor. This recipe is made with unsalted butter, but the listed butter and salt can be substituted with salted butter if desired.
I got confused where the brown sugar was used and after making the mixture I noticed it said "sugars" not sugar but over all good recipe.
Hi Sabrina, in the first step, both the granulated sugar and brown sugar (sugars) are added at the same time.
Yes these snickerdoodles are amazing!