Spiced Snickerdoodles

Soft and chewy cookies rolled in a sugar-spice mixture. These spiced snickerdoodles taste just like vanilla chai latte!

I have no idea what I’m going do with all the cookies I made this week. I have about a hundred of these cookies, red velvet cookies, and white chip chocolate cookies.

I guess eating them is one option.

Up until a few years ago, I didn’t even know what snickerdoodles were, but their name and the fact that they were coated in sugar and cinnamon was enough to convince me. I knew I’d fall for them the minute I try them.

After perfecting my classic snickerdoodle recipe, I wanted to spice things up a bit, so I added several spices to the sugar coating. The warm spices make them especially popular around the holidays. If you’re a fan of chai latte, you’re gonna love these. They’re on the sweet side, with a strong vanilla flavor, and slightly spiced coating.

The cookies are easy to make, then they’re rolled in the sugar-spice coating and baked until they’re puffy and beautiful. You don’t want to bake them too much because they taste best if the center is soft. Mine were ready in exactly 10 minutes.

You’ll notice that there’s cream of tartar in the recipe. Cream of tartar is the signature ingredient of snickerdoodles. It gives a wonderful taste and a super chewy texture so I highly recommend using it. If you still prefer not to use it, the cookies would still be soft and delicious, and they would taste more like sugar cookies. You can substitute the cream of tartar AND the baking soda in this recipe with 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

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Spiced Snickerdoodles

YIELD 30 cookies

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 2¾ cups (370 g/13 oz) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar* (see notes for substitution)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda*
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks/230 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200 g/7 oz) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (100 g/3.5 oz) light or dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs , at room temperature
• 1 and ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Coating:

• ½ cup (50 g/1.8 oz) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Do not overmix.
3. If the dough is soft at this point, chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight. This step also results in thicker cookies that will spread less while baking, but it's not mandatory.
4. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line 2 pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
5. Make the coating mixture: In a small bowl, toss together all the ingredients.
6. Shape the dough into balls, the size of 1.5 tablespoons each. Roll them in the coating mixture, and place on the cookie sheets. Bake for 10-11 minutes until cookies just begin to brown at the edges but the center is still soft. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then gently transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. Cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 months.

Recipe Notes

*Cream of tartar is used in traditional snickerdoodle recipes and gives it the cookies a unique tangy taste and chewy texture. Still, you can substitute the cream of tartar AND the baking soda (leave out both) with 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

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