Guess what? Up until last week, I had never made snickerdoodles. I was a snickerdoodle virgin.
And I know I said that I might be a little cookie-ed out, but I couldn’t let this one slip through the cracks. I had to share… for a few reasons.
First up, again – I had never made snickerdoodles. And they are one of Mr. How Sweet’s favorite cookies. I couldn’t disappoint the man. And second… just wait until you see how thick and fluffy these guys are. Unbelievable. It’s a cookie that melts in your mouth!
I’m pretty sure that these cookies have developed a complex since I keep calling them “fat.” But it’s not my fault, I swear.
I found this gem on an old newspaper clipping from 1965 in Mother Lovett’s stash. In fact, I nearly ripped in it two then spent over 45 minutes trying to tape it together because it was disintegrating in my hands.
See how thick and fluffy? Just like clouds. Vanilla cinnamon clouds.
Mother Lovett definitely made these one year, though I have no idea what year that was. It wasn’t a year that I was alive. But written on the newspaper clipping in faded pen were the words “made 20 fat cookies.”
So blame the cookies’ low self esteem on Mother Lovett. I’m sure she called them “plump” too – just like she called me when I was 13.
They definitely are the fattest snickerdoodles I’ve ever had. Although this was my first time baking snickerdoodles, it certainly was not my first time eating them. Most versions I’ve have in the last quarter of a century have been crisp, thin and delicious… but not fluffy.
But these? These are nearly an inch thick after they have been baked. They are super soft, like big, cinnamon cushions. And I must say that they are the best snickerdoodles I have ever tasted. Mr.How Sweet agreed. He didn’t say those exact words, but that’s just because he had a mouth full of snickerdoodles.
I can read his mind.
Thank you, newspaper from 1965.
Fat Fluffy Snickerdoodles
makes 16-20 cookies
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon for dipping
Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combine, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix until dough comes together. Add in milk. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In a bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip in cinnamon sugar mixture and place on baking sheet. Lightly press down on dough to flatten it. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
Edited to add: As of 12/13/10, I edited/updated this recipe after 4 tries at tweaking it. The original recipe works for me and a those of you that commented, but for those that had trouble – try this updated one! I just got more cookies out of it – they are still fat and fluffy. Enjoy!
I bet these cookies are Santa’a favorite too.
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Hello!
Made these today and they came out as a mixture of chewy, soft, yet crisp! A yummy texture!
Now I don’t have much experience with baking, but the bottoms were a little bit toooo brown (i just used a knife to slice a thin layer off the bottom to not waste any cookies!).
And I can still smell the vanilla extract (a little bit alcohol-ish) after they’re done. Is that okay or did I do something wrong? I added the amount the recipe said. I didn’t want to cook them any longer.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Never heard that about the vanilla extract! Are you sure you used a teaspoon and not a tablespoon?
Yup, I’m positive! Followed the recipe exactly. It’s probably one of those things where it happens once, and if I make the cookies again I won’t have that problem.
Or maybe I’m taking too deep of a sniff when enjoying a fresh snickerdoodle lol.
I find that it makes a whole lot of difference if you use PURE VANILLA EXTRACT and not the artificial one. There is quite a bit of alcohol in artificial..so that is why you smelled that even after it was baked. I used Madagascar Vanilla Extract, and they turn out amazing…I also add Cream of Tartar to my snickerdoodle recipe…it just gives it a nice consistency. Hope that helps.
vanilla extract is made using alcohol and simple syrup, you can even make your own at home
I like to bake cookies for the minimum time, take the cookies out of the oven and let them sit on the hot baking sheet. They still cook.
I’ve been reading the recipes on this blog for a few weeks and I made these for my teacher for Christmas, but left the classroom before he could eat any… Apparently he said later that they were the BEST snickerdoodles he had ever had.
Thanks so much for the recipe! They really were amazing… especially right out of the oven. Not that I would know.
Awesome!
I’ve just made these to take with me to work tomorrow (yup, working Christmas Day 12 hour shift!) and they look and smell delicious. Haven’t tasted them yet but I’m sure that they will brighten up our Christmas at work!
Yum, yum, yum!!
These cookies are wonderful!! I have made two batches already, and my boyfriend and his son told me these are the best cookies they’ve ever had! We had to make another batch to leave some for Santa…since the first batch was instantly devoured. Thank you!
Glad you guys like them!
I made this recipe for Christmas this year, and it was my favorite out of all the recipes I tried (we made 7 different kinds total, mind you). I left mine just slightly underbaked so they retained their moisture and texture over the days of holiday celebration. I’ve been stealing all of them from my family members’ cookie tins! Definitely making these again, give them a try.
just made these – SO GOOD. especially right out of the oven :] Thanks!
I just made these tonight and they are truly pillowy and delicious! This was also my first time making snickerdoodles and I WILL be making these again. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Jessica – I’ve been following your blog for a while now and you never cease to put a smile on my face with your writing (not to mention a growl in my stomach with your delicious recipes!). I’ve had this recipe on my fridge since before Christmas and finally made them tonight. The recipe is PERFECT and I can’t wait to eat them all – er, bring them to work. Thanks and can’t wait to make more of your recipes!
So glad you like them!
I just have to say, these are by far the bestest cookies ever. They do not last around my house. I have to bake them in secrecy. Thank you SOOOOOO much for these.
You are welcome!
Where is the updated recipe? No matter what I click on I seem to only see the original one.
I haven’t made Snickerdoodles since seventh grade home-ec class…it has been a few years! You’ve got me thinking that this might be how I spend my afternoon tomorrow.
What you see is the updated recipe. I deleted the old one.
Ahh, thank you!
Let me know if you like them!
Jessica – What a great recipe! I needed a greater quantity of smaller cookies, so I used a small cookie scoop and cooked them for 8 minutes. I got about 4 dozen two-bite cookies. They are just perfect. Sweet and soft, just like I was hoping they’d be. Thanks for sharing! I’ll definitely be trying more of your recipes!
these are in the oven. i hope that me living in the rockies doesn’t F with them. altitude changes blow.. i totally botched mama pea’s dough balls awhile back. at least this dough is really good.. marshall & i are licking the beaters right now.. actually marshall just stole the whole mixing bowl from me.. i gotta go get it back.
i will let you know how they turn out!
i made these so i could take a dozen into the office tomorrow. great. the recipe made 15 for me and now, (due to marshall and i playing quality control and making sure they weren’t poison) i only have 9. plus, marshall said he “dibs” four of them to take to work tomorrow. so that leaves me with five. FIVE? how am i supposed to only take five cookies to the office to share? i blame you. guess i will just have to eat the rest of them myself and make them for the office another day…
p.s. the altitude was no big deal! they clearly turned out perfectly. the only thing i did different was refrigerate for 10 minutes instead of 30 because i am impatient and it’s late.. and so they spread only slightly more than yours. but still fat, fluffy and ohmygoodness SO DELICIOUS.
p.s.s. when i told marshall that i was making a recipe from the same friend who gave me the buffalo chicken dip, his eyes lit up with glee.
p.s.s.s. these are way better than flat snickerdoodles.
p.s.s.s.s. i love you.
Yesssss! So glad you like them!!
I have been craving these for 2 weeks now and finally made them today. They are amazing! I substituted sour cream for the milk because I only had skim milk and thought these cookies needed a bit more fat. They came out so flight and fluffy! Absolutely amazing!
Awesome! Sour cream sounds amazing in them.
Just made these and I love them!
Mine turned out a little less fluffy, more on the chewy side, but I might have just left them in a couple minutes too long. I wanted them to be fluffy, because I’ve never had a fluffy snickerdoodle; they’re usually kinda chewy.
Q about the milk: I only added about 1.5 T of milk because my dough was looking great at that point. What is the purpose of the milk? Is it just to keep the dough from drying out when it sits in the fridge? (excuse my ignorance!)
Anyway, ended up giving about half of them to the neighbor kids because I could (will) eat them all right now.
snickerdoodles are my favorite cookies, so i made these last night. they were amazing. thanks for sharing!
I love this recipe!
When I was a child, in the ’70′s (ack!), my little granny used to make the most wonderful soft, chewy molasses cookies. She did not do a tremendous amount of baking, but a great deal of cooking hearty southern multi-dish meals. I don’t recall ever seeing cookbooks in her kitchen, and watching her you could tell that she’d been preparing these meals for years and years and needed no instruction. But the cookies…that I have really wondered about.
Anyway, these vintage snickerdoodles put me in mind of her molasses cookies, and I’m betting that at some point there was a vintage recipe (probably from a magazine or newspaper) for those. What a treasure that would be to have!
If anyone has a vintage recipe for soft, chewy molasses cookies, I would certainly love to give it try!
Gonna try these for my son! He made Sinickerdoddle last week and they were a FLAT mess. I hope ethese are better, I can’t wait to try them!
I made these cookies and posted them today on my blog! Thanks for the recipe!
http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2011/08/fat-fluffy-snickerdoodles.html
I am far from a snickerdoodle virgin and I must say that this is my favorite recipe that I have tried. The fluffiness really takes these to a new level. Thanks for sharing!
Im glad you posted this recipe because i dont like the most common snickerdoodle recipe on the web right now (the one that calls for 2 eggs, 1 cup butter, 2 3/4 c flour) every time ive made that recipe, my snickerdoodles came out sompletely flat. i like them fat and puffy and of course chewy. I can tell yours are fat and puffy but are they chewy? does the milk make them cakey? anyway, regardless, im still thrilled u came up w/ this recipe. the ingredient ratios look way better.. more flour. I’ll definitly try this and let u know how it goes.
Sorry, that first post was from my sister, it looks like i posted twice, but we both use the same blogger account, so that’s why my comment slightly contradicts her comment
I’m not usually one to leave comments, but I thought you should know – I made these for my housemate after she did something awful (damn jump kicks!) to a knee that had already had a reconstruction 5+ years ago. She was very, very down but snickerdoodles are her favourite and these are perfect and I can’t remember the last time I saw her smile like that. So thank you.
P.S. I can very they work on ovens in Australia
GOSH, I tried them, I can’t stop eating them!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!! I’ve been reading you for a few weeks and you’ve got a new fan!!!
These are in the oven right now! I can’t wait to try them. They smell so good. My batch ended up with 15 cookies.
This is the 2nd time i’ve made these cookies. I made them for my Pre-Calc class (I’m in 10th grade) I really hope everyone likes them as much as my family enjoyed the first batch. The cookies were gone from the trays in less than 10 minutes of them coming out of the oven. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!!!
I’ll be making these for my dad–we started mailing snickerdoodles to him when he was in Viet Nam; now it is a tradition for Christmas, his birthday, and any time we want to bless him.
I made these just…10 minutes ago. I completely burned my mouth but that’s okay, it was totally worth it. The only thing I’m wondering about is does using skim milk make a difference? I used lactose skim and my cookies came out totally flat. It’s alright because they still taste amazing but I was looking forward to the thick fluffiness
Hey, still confused after reading the posts as to which recipe is the doubled and better version. Thanks!
The recipe listed is the correct one!
Just made these today and they were unreal!! my husband said the best snicker doodles I have ever made! I just loved them. I love that they dont have cream of tarter- that stuff always messes me up and I put in way too much and it tastes sour or something. Anyway- loved these! thanks again!
Somehow, my fiance had never tried snickerdoodles, even though he named our kitten Snickerdoodles. Thank you for this incredible recipe – he loves them, and so do I!
Just made these- testing out Thanksgiving recipes. These are perfect and will go on my esteemed dessert table! Thanks so much!
I just baked a batch right now. I doubled the recipe since I needed more, but added sour cream instead of milk. Also, I have added a pinch of 5 spice to them. No idea if they can still be called Snickerdoodles now, but they are perfect. I actually ate some out of the oven. I might have burned my tongue and I feel kinda sick right now, but man, it was worth it! My mothers boyfriend is coming to visit tomorrow, I hope to impress her with these
I published the results on my own blog, with a link back to you. Thank you!
http://thefairyinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/snickerdoodles.html
I made these for a party. Everyone loved them. I definitely should have made more, since I ate three myself
hi..your recipe looks awesome. I been searching for a really good snickerdoodle recipe ever since I bought some of them at a church bake sale that some old granny made and they were truly the best I ever had in my life–soo light and fluffy, little pockets of air in the cookies, oh my god they were great! She said she used the ‘taste of home’ recipe but I tried it last night and while they were definately light they were flat as pancakes! ugh! in the pic on the recipe they were like balls of dough after being cooked–super puffy…But i followed it exactly and got flat cookies! Your recipe Im gonna try next but Im worried I will keep gtetting flat cookies even with the ultimtate fat snickerdoodle recipe.
I live on a mountain, but a short one. I dont think i am quite at high altitude level but thinking maybe I might want to try a high altitude version since I been baking for years and years and know what Im doing for the most part but sometimes they still come out flat. Do you have any idea what the high-alt version of your recipe might be?
Thanks!
I’m sorry, I honestly have no idea about high altitude baking! I’m not even sure where to begin.
Any thoughts/advice on freezing this dough? I’m making these for Christmas, but a full-time job and other obligations mean the more dough/prep I can do early, the better!
Just thought I’d follow up on this because I tested it out! You can freeze this dough very easily and still get fat/fluffy cookies. Hope that helps others!
I made the dough up until the step where you roll it in cinnamon/sugar. I scooped out the balls of dough, and flash-froze them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet for 2 hours. Then I transferred them to a zip top bag and stored in the freezer. To bake, I removed what I needed and let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes. Then I rolled the balls in cinnamon sugar, placed them on a cookie sheet, flattened them a little, and baked at 375 for 10-12 minutes just like the recipe stated.
Delicious!
This makes me want to go and whip up a batch of snickerdoodles right this very instant! They are my all time favs!
Hey,
I just wanted to let you know a guy just proposed to me because he liked these cookies so much. He wants me to marry him so that I can always be in his life to make cookies. Haha I’ll just take that as a huge compliment. Thank you so much for making the boys in my life so happy. =)
That is amazing. Congrats!
OMG, I just made these cookies and they are fantastic!!! I added brown sugar and instead of milk, I used buttermilk…FANTASTIC! Thanks for sharing!
My husband is a certified snickedoodle junkie!! We’ll be celebrating our 20th anniversary this month so I can tell you that over the years I have tried NUMEROUS recipes. This is hands down the BEST one. I did add a T of cream of tartar to give it that snickerdoodle bite, but they are EXACTLY what the cookie should be. Bit of a crispy snap when you bite into it and soft on the inside. My husband thinks I should get this tattoed somewhere on me so I never lose this recipe, I showed him I have it bookmarked and since I check in several times a week, I’m pretty sure I won’t forget where I got it from!!
I made these cookies tonight, and they are AMAZING!! Thank you for such a yummy recipe!!
I tried this recipe twice, and they turned out nothing like yours. What’s wrong?
I made this for my work holiday party last night and they FLEW off the plate! I couldn’t believe it, I am sad that I only left 4 at home for myself. I think that I will be making them again for my next holiday party on Sunday. Thank you so much I don’t think I can ever go back to the old way of snickerdoodles again.
Made these in little bite sized cookies for my hubs to take to co-workers and they were the nom-noms. What I really need to tell you is I just received an email from my mom and she said “Oh Sh–!! I thought the website for the Snickerdoodles was hotsweets (dot) com, but it’s a PORN SITE!!!!!!!”
HAHAHA!!! I laughed so hard, just had to share!
I just made these for the first time (eaten them but never made them) and they are SPECTACULAR!!!
I am new to your blog after coming across a recipe on Pinterest and I am hooked……if I wasnt before these cookies sealed the deal. I cant wait to make some other recipes that I already have pinned waiting to go.
I had never EATEN, much less made, a snickerdoodle until last night. I had been thinking about this recipe, because my husband says he loves them, and made them once and they were TERRIBLE. But your recipe HAD to be better than the ones he made. I love cinnamon and sugar. They had to be good. And they were. And he said they were the best snickerdoodles and possibly the best cookies I ever made. I specifically made them for the kids teachers, so I hope they like them too.
For some odd reason mine turned out not fluffy at all. Maybe I left them in too long? Or the altitude I’m at is much higher and I need to adjust something in the recipe. I’ll probably try this out again and maybe use Sour Cream instead of the milk like someone else did. Thank you!
It could also be the temperature of your butter – if it is melty at all, they will flatten out!
I made these for my very big Puerto Rican family for xmas, there were literally like 52 people in my house on Christmas Eve–Now, Puerto Ricans aren’t big cookie lovers, but they LOVED these. Like seriously, LOVED them. I made six batches and they ate them all in 2 hours. I now have to make another six batches for New Years! Thanks for a fantastic recipe Jessica
I started to make these last night, and then realized I didn’t have an egg. I substituted about one-third cup of applesauce, and they still turned out amazing!
Omg! These are by far the best snickerdoodles I’ve ever had! Thanks for all the awesome recipes
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