Do you love the combination of chocolate and cinnamon? If your answer is yes, I made these chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies just for you! These little gems are soft and fluffy inside, slightly crispy on the outside, studded with creamy chocolate chips, and have fragrant cinnamon in every single bite.
While I love an elaborate pie, I also love an easy cookie recipe that I can whip up over lunch just in time to enjoy with my afternoon tea. If you’re in need of a quick afternoon sweet, come on over and I’ll virtually show you how to make these super easy chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies.
But don’t be mistaken, not only are they good for a quick little afternoon tea session, they are also perfect for your Christmas cookies list. Make a big batch and share them with your favorite people!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Extremely easy – transform 9 simple ingredients that you most likely have in your pantry and fridge into a batch of delicious cookies in under half an hour.
- No cream of tartar – if you don’t bake a lot, you may not have a lot of use for cream of tartar and it would be a waste to buy a jar just to use a little bit for one single recipe, that’s why these chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies only use baking powder.
- Great flavor – I use cinnamon in both the cookie dough and the cinnamon sugar topping so the flavor is more prominent.
- Absolutely no chilling required – I’m usually an advocate for chilling cookie dough but this chocolate chip snickerdoodle is the one recipe that I’m actually all in for no chilling whatsoever. Make it, bake it, and enjoy it right away!
- Toddler approved – I don’t feed my kids a lot of sweet, but my toddler gets a cookie or a slice of cake here and there. She is quite the critic, if she doesn’t like it, you’ll know! And she asked for second when I gave her one of these cookies!!
Tools you’ll need
Here are some of the tools you will need to make these chocolate chip snickerdoodles:
- A stand mixer or an electric mixer to make the cookie dough. You’ll need to beat softened butter with sugar until fluffy so making it by hand will be a bit labor intensive.
- A cookie scoop makes dividing the cookie dough easier and to get consistent size cookies so they all bake at the same time. The one I use is a #40 or 1 ½ tablespoon so if you don’t have a cookie scoop you can use your tablespoon for rough measurement.
- A large fine mesh sieve or a sifter to sift the flour and dry ingredients. This is very helpful especially with baking powder, I notice mine tends to have clumps in it.
- And while you don’t need to have this, I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale to give you exact measurements and eliminate the need for additional measuring cups, spoons and even mixing bowls.
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Butter – I used unsalted room temperature butter in this recipe. Just make sure to leave it out to soften before you start.
- Sugar – I used just regular granulated sugar here to get a soft texture with crispy edges. If you want to substitute brown sugar, that will work too but you’ll still need granulated sugar to roll the cookies in as brown sugar is too wet and won’t work for that purpose.
- Egg – just one whole egg is used to bind all the ingredients together.
- Vanilla – I used pure vanilla extract to add complexity and warmth to round out the flavor.
- Flour – simple all-purpose flour will work for this recipe.
- Salt – just a quarter teaspoon of salt is used for that salty-sweet taste. It balances out the sugar in the cookie dough as well as the chocolate chips and enhances the overall flavor.
- Baking powder – only baking powder is used in this no cream of tartar snickerdoodle recipe to help the cookies rise.
- Cinnamon – ground cinnamon is used in both the cookie dough and in the sugar/cinnamon mixture the cookies are rolled in.
- Chocolate chips – I used semisweet chocolate chips here. For the size of these cookies, I think mini chocolate chips would work great and give a more even distribution but either size would be fine.
How to make chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Start by creaming together softened butter and sugar for 1 to 2 minutes, until creamy and fluffy.
Then, add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat together for another 1 to 2 minutes until fluffy.
Sift together the dry ingredients and stir in the salt in another mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed just until a dough forms.
Stir in the chocolate chips. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape the bowl and give it a good mix to ensure even distribution of chocolate chips throughout.
Scoop out the cookie dough with a cookie scoop and roll them between your palms into approximately 1 ½” balls, this makes 18. Roll the dough balls in cinnamon sugar just before baking.
More baker’s tips
- Room temperature ingredients – make sure refrigerated ingredients are left out to come to room temperature so it is easier to incorporate them.
- No chilling required – this snickerdoodle chocolate chip cookie dough does not need to be refrigerated and can be baked right away. In fact, I prefer to bake them from room temperature so they have a little bit more spread.
- Making ahead – the cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 3 to 6 months. I recommend portioning and rolling the dough into balls first, then refrigerate or freeze in an airtight container. You can thaw them before baking or baking them cold/frozen; you may need to add a minute or two to baking time if baking directly from frozen. Note that if the dough is cold, the cookies won’t spread much.
- Scale the recipe how you want – you can easily double or triple the ingredients for these chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies to make a larger batch for the holidays.
Storage
Store chocolate chip snickerdoodles in an airtight container along with a slice of sandwich bread at room temperature, and they will last up to a week. The bread will provide moisture to keep them soft. Place the piece of bread off to the side in the container or place a small piece of parchment paper between the bread and the cookies so they don’t stick together.
FAQs
This recipe for chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies is a variation of my snickerdoodle recipe without cream of tartar. As I’ve mentioned in that recipe, there is essentially no difference in taste whether you use cream of tartar or not. But yes, you can add cream of tartar back into these cookies. Here’s what you need to do:
– Add ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar and ½ teaspoon of baking soda. Cream of tartar goes hand in hand with baking soda to leaven baked goods, so you need to add them together.
– Reduce the baking powder to ½ teaspoon, we don’t want to over-leaven the cookies.
This snickerdoodle recipe uses baking powder to help the cookies rise. Make sure your baking powder is not too old, especially if you don’t bake often and find a jar in the back of your pantry. And make sure you didn’t just forget to add it.
You can make a few modifications and substitutions: use melted butter, brown sugar and baking soda. Softened butter will yield soft and cakey cookies while melted butter will result in a more chewy texture. Make sure to let the butter cool down before mixing. Brown sugar will also add to a more chewy texture, but you will still need granulated sugar for the cinnamon sugar topping. Swap out half of the baking powder for baking soda, no need for cream of tartar still if you’re using brown sugar; brown sugar is acidic and will activate the baking soda.
If using melted butter, you will likely need to chill the cookies before baking to allow the butter in the cookie dough to resolidify. Otherwise, your chocolate chip snickerdoodle cookies may spread into one giant cookie on your baking sheet.
More chocolate chips cookies
- Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies without brown sugar
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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📖 Recipe card
Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodle Cookies
Equipment
- #40 Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 4 oz unsalted butter (room temperature, 113 g)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar (133 g, divided, use 2 tablespoons for rolling)
- 1 large egg (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (165 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon (divided, use 1 teaspoon for rolling)
- ¾ cup chocolate chip (semisweet, 130 g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Measure out ⅔ cup of sugar and set aside 2 tablespoons for rolling. Add the remaining sugar and 1 stick of softened butter to the stand mixer bowl and beat with the paddle attachment until combined and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add 1 whole egg along with 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and beat for another minute or two until thoroughly combined and fluffy.
- In a small bowl, sift together 1 ¼ cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Then stir in ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt until evenly distributed.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient mixture and mix until just combined.
- Stir in ¾ cup of semisweet chocolate chips. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary to ensure even distribution of chocolate chips throughout the dough.
- Mix the 2 tablespoons of sugar, set aside earlier, with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a shallow dish for topping.
- Divide the dough with a small cookie scoop (1 ½ tablespoon) and roll into dough balls about 1 ½” in size.
- Roll the dough ball entirely and generously in cinnamon sugar. Place them on a parchment line baking sheet about 2” apart. Don’t flatten them.
- Bake for 10 – 11 minutes.
- Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Mini chocolate chips will work well here for more even distribution of chocolate chips in the cookie dough.
- If you need to refrigerate the dough for whatever reason, divide into individual dough balls first or the dough will get too hard to scoop.
- You can store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature with as slice of sandwich bread and they will stay soft for up to a week.
- You can store the cookie dough in the fridge for up to 3 days and freeze it for 3 to 6 months. I recommend thawing before baking.
Nutrition
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