Friends, it’s snickerdoodle season. If you didn’t know that snickerdoodles had a season, let me paint a picture for you: you’re coming inside on a blustery and colder-than-you’d-expected October day so you hadn’t dressed for it and you can’t wait to announce what my kids always laugh at me for saying when I walk through the door: “Well, that’s enough doing things for me today!” and forswear things like “being outside” and “hard pants” for the rest of the evening but what is this! What is this god-like aroma of buttery baked cinnamon sugar warmth that has permeated your senses? Is it a scented candle, i.e. the idea, but not the substance of a thing you love? No, it’s snickerdoodles. And you’re about to eat a warm one, which feels like climbing inside It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown while also, simultaneously, getting to be this dog. I’m not saying you cannot experience this sensory transcendency on a day in January or June, but it hits on a different, worldview-shifting, level when cold air is still a novel thing.
In 2009, exactly one day before I had my first kid, I shared a recipe for classic snickerdoodles, the old-fashioned kind with cream of tartar and baking soda instead of baking powder that cool to flatten a bit with crisp edges. They’re delicious, contest-winning, and going to stay in the archives exactly as they are. But, as I bit into them a few weeks ago, a vision crystalized in my head of what they’d be if they were, say, the mic drop of the snickerdoodle category, seven words I’m pretty sure nobody has had the impenitent cringe to string together before. A few weeks of tinkering later, they’re here and I can’t shut up about them. A few things set them apart:
- Thicker and more tender: They’re not cakey, but have an incredibly quiet bite yet softly crisp edges. They get that way the same way my confetti cookies do: with the addition of a little cream cheese. This also gives what is usually a classic drop sugar cookie — good but hardly exciting — needed complexity.
- Brown butter: While my brown butter fanaticism is well-established, I like to limit its usage to places where you can really taste it, and my word, here we really do.
- Vanilla bean: I briefly wondered if adding vanilla bean paste would add more of a Pinterest keyword pileup than actually improve the flavor and then I tried it and I was very wrong. It’s heavenly here.
- My favorite cinnamon: No, it’s not mandatory but my forever favorite, Burlap & Barrel’s Royal Cinnamon, is a particular treat here. Be like crazy Deb and buy it in one-pound bottles. Share it with friends, if they’re nice.
This is my forever snickerdoodle recipe, the last I’ll ever need, and I can’t wait for them to win a spot in your permanent repertoire too.
Video
Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
- 1 cup (8 ounces or 225 grams) unsalted butter (see Note)
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) water (see Note)
- 3 cups (400 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar + 3 tablespoons (40 grams) for rolling
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond brand, use half of others)
- 1/4 cup (2 ounces, 55 grams or 1/4 of an 8-ounce brick) cream cheese, in chunks
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (10 grams) ground cinnamon
Chill the browned butter: We want to freeze the butter until it’s solid throughout but trust me, this speeds it up: Freeze the butter in the bowl for 30 minutes then give it a full stir, scraping down the sides, mixing the still melted parts in the center over the solidified chunks. Return to the freezer for another 15 to 30 minutes — it should now be firm throughout. Cut it into chunks, right in the bowl. No need to make them even.
To make the cookies in a food processor: Place the flour, 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the work bowl of your food processor and pulse to blend. Add your cold brown butter chunks and cream cheese and pulse and blend until all visible pieces disappear and the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add egg and vanilla and blend until mixture is fully combined, scraping down as needed (dough will look like boulders) then keep running the machine for approximately another full minute, until the dough mixture looks thick and smooth.
To make with an electric mixer: Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese, chilled brown butter, and 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) of the sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and blend again, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add flour mixture and beat just until flour disappears. In some cases, dough made with this method will feel too soft to roll into balls in your hands; if so, let it chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or so before using.
Heat oven: To 375°F (190°C)
Finish the cookies: Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine remaining 3 tablespoons (40 grams) granulated sugar and all of the cinnamon. Scoop cookie dough into 1.5-tablespoon-sized balls (I’m using a #40 scoop), roll briefly in your hands to smooth them, then roll them in the cinnamon sugar mixture before placing on the prepared baking sheet. Use your fingers to slightly flatten (picture: 1/3 of the way) each dough ball. Repeat with remaining cookies, spacing them two inches apart.
Bake cookies: For 10 to 11 minutes. They will still feel very soft and underbaked on top but they will set up as they cool, promise. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling.
Do ahead: These cookies keep for one week in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes:
- Basic butter: I’m calling for basic, non-European, regular butterfat butter here — you know, the kind that comes in a 1-pound box with four “sticks” at most American grocery stores; store brands are fine. [If you’d like to use a fancier, higher butterfat butter, you’ll want to add back less water after browning the butter.]
- Why the water: When you brown butter, the water content of the butter cooks off (that’s what causes all of that sputtering in the pan) and we want to add it back to ensure that the cookies have the perfect tender texture. I used to measure the water loss by volume and would recommend adding just shy of 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of water back per 1 cup of butter. But recently I’ve begun weighing my brown butter instead and was surprised to learn that what began as 227 grams of butter became 186 grams after browning (i.e. minus 41 grams), meaning you’d want to add 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of water (40 grams) back. However, I found these cookies had the best texture rounding this to 3 full tablespoons (45 grams) of water, and call for it here. Was that super nerdy? Yes. But I know someone was going to ask!
Previously
6 months ago: Charred Salt and Vinegar Cabbage
1 year ago: Glazed Apple Cider Doughnut Cake
2 years ago: Chicken Rice with Buttered Onions
3 years ago: Apple and Cheddar Crisp Salad
4 years ago: Winter Squash and Spinach Pasta Bake
5 years ago: Skillet Turkey Chili
6 year ago: Chicken Curry
7 years ago: Even More Perfect Apple Pie
8 years ago: Quick Pasta and Chickpeas and Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
9 years ago: Garlic Wine and Butter Steamed Clams, Baked Alaska, Indian-Spiced Cauliflower Soup and Skillet-Baked Pasta with Five Cheeses
10 years ago: My Old-School Baked Ziti and Cannoli Pound Cake
11 years ago: Better Chicken Pot Pies and Better Chocolate Babka
12 years ago: Miso Sweet Potato and Broccoli Bowl and Purple Plum Torte
13 years ago: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
14 years ago: Apple Pie Cookies
15 years ago: Mushroom Lasagna
16 years ago: Quiche Lorraine and Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp
17 years ago: Majestic and Moist Honey Cake, Best Challah (Egg Bread), and Mom’s Apple Cake
18 years ago: Peter Reinhart’s Bagels and Peanut Butter Brownies
19 years ago: Lemon Cake
I don’t share your love of browned butter. Can I skip that and use 1 cup of cold butter? If anyone has tried this (or ideally both versions) I’d appreciate hearing about it.
Yes, 1 cup cold butter and you should skip the added water.
I’m finally making these today. Brown butter is a brilliant idea and I might take the extra time to do this in future cookie batches. Since I can never leave well enough alone, I plan on experimenting with substituting cardamom for half the cookies.
On a completely different subject, my old stand mixer isn’t steady any more and I’ll replace it soon. Do you have an opinion on the Breville or any of the other new models? The GE is out of consideration because I lack counter space for it and can’t imagine lugging it out of a low cupboard to use.
I still have my Kitchen Aid but it needs to be repaired and I’m debating whether it will be worth the trouble, tbh! I know people love the Breville but I haven’t tested it.
I spent in the neighborhood of $100 for repairs to an entry level Kitchen Aid a few years back and I’m not convinced spending more would make sense. I have the Breville hand mixer and other of their appliances and find them reliable. The KA is fine for light mixing, but not for dough heavier than cookies. It’s time to take the plunge as soon as my preferred color is back in stock.
By the way, the cardamom substitution was delightful. My husband found them too sweet. Duh. They’re cookies, not salad.
I‘ve tried the recipe without the browning and the water and it worked!
I decided I should try both ways and made half with browned butter and half without. DId a blind taste test with friends and the men liked the non-browned butter version and the woman who is a BIG SK fan liked the browned butter version. I was underwhelmed by both but I think you’re either a snickerdoodle person or you’re not. Will stick with your brownie cookies which are heavenly.
Do you mean the rollout brownie cookies or the browniest cookies?
Glad to know I’m not the only one Catherine! I can’t tolerate the smell.
Just curious how you tolerate cilantro.
I know this is a late reply. I do love brown butter and plan to try these but I just want to add that Deb’s original snickerdoodle recipe has been my go to for years and often requested! If you don’t like brown butter you can’t go wrong with her original snickerdoodle recipe!!
Can’t wait to try these!!! The “quiet bit with softly crisp edges,” ugh you have theee finest, most reliable taste in cookie textures. Thanks for the nerdiness, we precision/texture peeps 🩷 that
Home run! The only change I made was to add 1/2 tsp cardamom to the dust. Perfectly mouth watering tang balancing that brown butter richness mmm…
Question though – I creamed and creamed with my stand mixer and some of the little brown bits never broke down past about lentil-size so some of the cookies have tiny divots where the shards melted in the oven. No ill effect but did I do something wrong?
These look fabulous and I will be baking them soon! Thanks Deb!
Snickerdoodle And brown butter, who needs world peace?! Can’t wait to try!!
Can we talk about the lack of cream of tartar and why, please? I’m thrilled about the nerdiness related to the brown butter but I’m needing the nerdy reason why there’s no cream of tartar in this snickerdoodle too. Thanks.
Hello there,
I am curious if you can just use browned butter, adjusting water content, in the award winning snickerdoodle recipe that uses cream of tartar? Is there a reason this won’t work?
I love the texture that cream of tartar gives snickerdoodles. It seems very different than a soft cake cookie.
Annie, I’m wondering the same thing!
Deb: would you please share with us the process that led you to eliminate the cream of tartar? Thank you.
I’m so excited that there’s no cream of tartar bc that always leaves a funny taste in the back of my mouth. I always pass on snickerdoodles because of it. I’m really excited to try this one.
I am at a loss. Got to the sandy mixture. Added egg and vanilla. It’s still sandy and not a dough. Ugh!
You can do the brown butter + water adjustment if you prefer the original cookie’s texture.
I love your work. But if they don’t have cream of tartar, they’re not snickerdoodles, they’re sugar cookies. Which are great! But a separate thing. Snickerdoodles are a very specific little niche, not “any cookie rolled in something.” I will die on this hill, clearly…
omg let Deb live lol
in all seriousness, these look incredible. super psyched to make these!
Ha! I woke up to so many comments about the cream of tartar. So, let’s dig in and I’ll add a note at the end of the recipe.
First, these are *not* classic snickerdoodles and do not aspire to be. If you’d like a classic snickerdoodle recipe, I’ve got you covered, cream of tartar and all (although if you’re reading my Weekly Yap newsletter, you might know how it’s really labeled in the Smitten Kitchen, mwahaha)
I know that people say that the cream of tartar adds a tanginess or softness to classic snickerdoodles, but I simply have not found that to be true. My understanding is that reason that old-school snickerdoodle recipes had cream of tartar in them is because the recipes predated commercial baking powder. Here’s Google on it: “Before baking powder was invented, cream of tartar was a common ingredient for leavening, as it is an acidic powder that, when combined with baking soda (a base), produces carbon dioxide gas to make baked goods rise.” That’s why homemade baking powder is made from baking soda + cream of tartar + a pinch of cornstarch. Obviously commercial baking powder has been around for a long time now, thus it’s chemically unnecessary to include cream of tartar in snickerdoodle recipes. I think it’s pure nostalgia that keeps it there.
And while I love some nostalgia, I like this newfangled snickerdoodle recipe even more. It has an actual subtle tang and slight softness from cream cheese. I can’t wait for you guys to get obsessed with it too.
I can taste the difference between a snickerdoodle with and without cream of tartar. But I love, love, love browned butter, so soon to taste this too!!!!
I will try and sincerely hope to be obsessed!!! ❤️
Believe it or not, in Stella Parks’s “Bravetart” cookbook, she also has a recipe for snickerdoodles (and a cake style variation, snip doodles, omg), that also does not contain cream of tartar! Her book includes a lot of history of the baked goods she features and is an interesting read for sure.
That means that snickerdoodles’ distinct flavor comes from higher amount of cream of tartar than we’d normally have when using baking powder. It is not a direct swap. Otherwise there is nothing distinguishing it from other cookies.
OMG who cares?! Either make it or don’t, you’ll be ok!
I’ve been making your old version for a million years to rave reviews and am up to try these, but no cream of tartar has left my flabbers truly gasted. Is the small amount of cream cheese really enough to provide the tang of a classic snick, or is this just a different animal entirely?
I wrote too long of a response to copy-paste here. You can read it here:
https://hairloss-find.info/2025/10/brown-butter-snickerdoodles/#comment-2710946%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Thank you, and SOLD.
First of all, I wanted to tell you that your comment really made me laugh. That was so needed. Secondly, I wondered the same question. Cream of tartar gives that special something aftertaste like food-grade lye does with fresh boiled bagels. I just made these cookies and while the cream cheese does give it some flavor, sadly it’s more of a sourness and not the same effect as cream of tartar.
Thank you, and good to know! My husband likes the originals super underbaked, so I’m going to see how these work for him, but I think my friends and bake sale compoatriots will fire me if I change from the old standard. I will be a two-snick household!
Gasted flabbers, LOL. I’m loving the comments on this recipe.
These were delicious. It’s a little too sweet FOR MY TASTE but I have a new appreciation for brown butter. It made the cookie have hints of nuttiness. I also loved the texture.
Browning and then reconstituting the butter by calculating the before and after browning weight is peak Smitten Kitchen — and why we’re all here!
Thank you for encouraging my relentless nerdery!
Most definitely 😀
Just a little suggestion here. If you put the 45g water into the pot after you’ve poured out the browned butter, then whisk it heartily, you can extract every last iota of brown deliciousness from the pot.
One of my favorite things in this digital age is when I see a freshly published recipe from one of my faves and by some dumb luck I’ve got all the ingredients and a free afternoon.
These we’re divine. A forever snickerdoodle recipe indeed! I only had Kerrygold on hand so used that and added 30g of water. That seemed to work great.
Thank you for this one!
Had to give a wry smile at ‘only Kerrygold’ you lucky ducky. That’s a premier butter brand where I live, so it’s bog-standard supermarket butter for me. You’re living my dream!
Amazingly, I had already committed to baking approximately 50 Snickerdoodles this Saturday, AND to use a recipe that my predecessor always used.
But now you’ve tempted me with brown butter, and the timing is just too perfect. Smitten Kitchen wins again!
P.S. Deb, you mentioned “warm snickerdoodles” — how could I create that effect if I’m baking them the day before? Should I slightly underbake them and then heat them up half an hour before the meeting?
You could definitely pop them in a 300-degree oven for a few minutes to rewarm them. They shouldn’t dry out too quickly.
Thanks so much, Deb, for responding!
Sorry to be re-asking the ame questions, but would it make sense to slightly underbake the snickerdoodles the day before, or not? Perhaps “the center would not hold,” to misquote Yeats?
I call for underbaking them in the recipe. If you bite into one right away, you’ll thinks it’s raw. 20 to 30 minutes later, it’s perfect. And a week later too.
These are definitely delicious! I struggled with getting the butter to brown. I finally followed thru with the adding water and freezing as instructed. After freezing for two 30 minute intervals, there was still a small puddle of liquid on the sides. Mixed it right in with everything. Guess I’m not sure what the freezing steps are for? Thx for the recipe!
The freezing step is just to cool the butter the fastest way possible. If you have more time, the fridge is fine.
I have loved and will continue to lover EVERYTHING on this site and that Deb writes. But I, too, am wondering about the absence of cream of tartar. I don’t have many “creeds” in my life, but the unique, almost ineffable flavor that cream of tartar imparts to a Snickerdoodle is what makes them a Snickerdoodle.
If I want to make this ahead/in smaller snatches of time throughout a workday, can I brown the butter and stick it in the freezer for any length of time? Or does it have to be chilled but not totally frozen (in which case, can I stick it in the fridge for a long length of time instead)?
Can I freeze the dough after rolling but before baking?
Yup
SO good! 10/10. Perfect texture, size, and presentation. The sourness from the cream cheese checks the box that cream of tartar normally would. These brown butter is such a yummy twist. These are a new favorite and entering the fall rotation!
Seconded.
Yum! These were delicious. Mine were best at 10 minutes. I love the slightly crispy outer edge and the soft inside. The instructions were very clear and great for making the brown butter. My kids gave them a thumbs up!
I made these the day you published the recipe. Arbiter of all Baked Goods (Husband) says they are good, but I screwed up something – not sure what. My dough never came together – it was all crumbs. I wound up having to squeeze it into balls. Not ideal, I know. I guess they affected the texture, but they WERE good, so maybe not. I will try again!
These are amazing! They are SO much better without the metallic taste that cream of tartar imparts. Definitely a keeper recipe!
I’ve found that giving the butter a gentle stir once or twice as it’s browning helps keep the browned bits from sticking to the bottom of the pot. I forgot to do it this time and missed out on having all of that yummy goodness in the cookies (and I had to scape the pot!).
Ah, I think perhaps you’ve captured that ‘funny taste’ I’ve always associated with schnickerdoodles. They are one of my favourite cookies despite that hint of an aftertaste that I can honestly say would put me off any other cookie. So excited to give these a try.
I made these today! The ‘non-European butter’ gave me a pause at first, since I am IN Europe, but I simply measured out the grams lost after browning the butter and added water accordingly. It worked perfectly. They taste amazing and all faults (my food processor was not powerful enough for this so I had to switch methods in the middle of it all, and I definitely made them too big at first because I am absolutely terrible at gauging 1.5 table spoons) are my own.
I do think if I make them again I would experiment a bit with the butter vs cream cheese ratio, just to see what happens.
Because I am insane like Deb, I made 3 batches of snickerdoodle cookies today:
1) These brown butter snickerdoodles. We loved them, until we compared them to the others made with cream of tartar below; then it was clear that the cream of tartar impacts a more sour flavor than the cream cheese, and we prefer the cream of tartar taste.
2) Deb’s original classic snickerdoodles, but with the chilled brown butter technique from here. This did not work out for me, the chilled butter didn’t incorporate evenly into the batter and the resulting cookies were super uneven. Flavor-wise, it still didn’t live up to #3 below.
3) Brown butter-bourbon snickerdoodles from Jesse Szewczyk’s Cookies: The New Classics (which is a great book, I’ve had one dud I need to work on adjusting because it spread too much but even then it tasted great, and everything else I’ve tried has been perfect). These snickerdoodles were VERY soft when scooped and spread very flat as a result; they contain 20g less flour per egg than Deb’s Classic Snickerdoodles recipe, plus an extra Tbsp of liquid from the bourbon and melted butter instead of solid, so no wonder. But the flavor is amazing. It’s probably fine for snickerdoodles to spread but I will try tweaking it nonetheless next time by increasing the flour qty.
Also, a tip on browning butter: if you let it go a little too far, but it’s not totally black, you can still use it. The taste will be a little more dark caramel than toffee but it doesn’t taste burnt.
Wanted to add – I have made Deb’s Classic Snickerdoodles in the past, following the recipe exactly, and they were great. Subbing in brown butter in a recipe that calls for solid, not melted butter is tricky, so that failure is not the recipe’s fault! I might have frozen the butter for too long, since I halved the recipe (and didn’t for the Brown Butter Snickerdoodles because I hate halving eggs) and didn’t halve the freezer time.
Thanks for the thorough review. Great info here.
You also confirmed that cream of tartar does impart a certain “Je ne sais quoi”.
Happy Baking!
Yes, I was surprised to find how much I could taste the cream of tartar. I didn’t grow up eating homemade cookies of any kind and don’t have a strong opinion on snickerdoodle vs sugar cookie. But I definitely liked the extra sourness to balance the sweetness of the rest of the cookie in the recipes that used cream of tartar.
Jesse Szewczyk’s brown butter-bourbon snickerdoodles are fantastic. My notes say the dough was too soft to work with when freshly made. A two-hour chill in the fridge made it easy to form the dough into balls and the cookies held their shape perfectly when baked.
I made Jesse’s recipe again later in the week with 20g extra flour (per egg, as I made the halved recipe and still have too many cookies lol) and no chilling, and they were the perfect texture for my preference — a little bit crumpled on top rather than being perfectly flat. I froze some of both batches and baked them on the same sheet later on, and the original one was still a little flat for me (but would be great if you like crisp snickerdoodles rather than soft).
Before I try this (it LOOKS delish! – I LOVE Snickerdoodles), I live in Mile High Denver – high and dry! Any adjustments needed for high (and rather dry) altitude?
If it helps, I am at lower altitude than Denver but at 3000ft in the dry Rocky Mountains, and I sometimes have trouble with cookies spreading too much, but these baked up perfectly as per the recipe.
Thanks for reporting that personal experience. Helpful!
Lynn R, I live outside of Colorado Springs at 9200 ft. The first adjustment I make to ANY cookie recipe (bar, drop or cut) is to reduce the sugar by 25%. (It will melt and flow out before the heat firms up the rest of the dough.) Then, because our flour becomes so dry, I sometimes add an extra egg yolk; that adds some fat and liquid (although I didn’t in my adjusted recipe). Also, reduce the leavening by about 25%. When I moved here, snickerdoodles was one of the first recipes I “altituded.”
Thanks much for all the learned wisdom. I am an infrequent baker, so know that adjustments may be needed, but don’t intuitively know just how to adjust!
Some cookies work out just fine with original recipe and some most definitely don’t. Will “play” with the balance and hope I come up with the right balance of ingredients. Except where stuff comes out rock hard, I’ve found that the TASTE is still pretty good, though I WOULD like to get the recipe right for company consumption!
I can’t wait to try these!
How many cookies / sheets does this recipe yield?
It makes 30 to 32 cookies.
I only got 18 cookies, but it took the same amount of time to bake. I feel like I did something wrong!!!
I got 24 cookies/2 sheet pans with this recipe.
First time I’ve ever made Snickerdoodles! So good!
Wow, tackled these while juggling four kids including two little ones and a fresh lasagna, and they were still perfect! Enlisted my three year old and teen to do the rolling and dipping in sugar which allowed me to get din on the table at the same time. Recipe was easy, no fuss, and texture/flavor incredible. Made tonight’s dinner even more special to have a surprise treat for all. Expecting to make endless more batches with endless gratitude to Deb for another winner. Keep em up!
I made those without browning the butter, and they turned out great! This was so easy and fun to bake.
However, I wonder if I accidentally added too much baking powder – my cookies have risen way more than the ones in your photos, and they taste a bit too salty.
And I‘m not sure if it‘s because of the european butter, but the dough and resulting cookies were a tiny bit too crumbly, I might add an extra tablespoon of cream cheese next time.
And I added extra cinnamon to the dough because I love spicy cookies, I‘ll probably experiment next time and add some more spices like cardamom as well.
Marie, it it possible that you added too much baking SODA? In the past, I made that mistake, and my cookies came out tasting too salty.
I skipped browning the butter too and had to add all 3 T water to get the dough to come together. I used regular US butter.
They are good, but more like a cinnamon sugar cookie.
These are divine. Made them for a Girl Scout troop hike tomorrow, and we’ll be lucky if we have a dozen left!
I made these on the spur of the moment last night and served them to some friends, who enjoyed them muchly (as did I). For our oven, 10 minutes was the right amount of time to bake them. I checked one of my trays at that time and left them sit in the oven for another 2 minutes because the center felt too soft, but this tray more than the others turned out with an unwelcome snap. Still tasty, just not quite it, texturally.
My son made these and they were delicious but the butter never browned. He said it bubbled and frothed for eight to ten minutes and nothing happened. That has happened to me in the past when trying to brown butter, too. What are we doing wrong?
Oh, I’m so sorry, Florence. Perhaps your heat wasn’t high enough?
I just found this randomly on the internet. I’m sure many others must exist.
https://youtube.com/shorts/EssnbxjMKnw?si=iOCN5O4zRkmSFdyL
Thank you! I’ll try a higher heat next time.
Wow people really lost their minds over the (lack of) cream of tartar! I made these over the weekend and they were a hit. They had a cakier/less chewy texture than a “regular” snickerdoodle or a sugar cookie, maybe because they did not spread so they were thicker, but people really liked that and the flavor was yummy. My dough was a little dry, so I think I might regulate that a bit next time with a touch more cream cheese or water.
My family loved these cookies! I didn’t miss the cream of tartar at all, and loved the addition of the browned butter! Another plus is that they aren’t overly sweet. Just the right amount of sweetness! Thank you so much fr all the trouble you go to to fine-tune your recipes – I have never had a fail!
Snickerdoodles are my favourite cookie and I can’t wait to try rhis version.
I like to play around with recipes and found that a teaspoon of cardamom and some orange zest are great additions.
So, we love the OG smitten snicks, but I had to try these out since I always have to underbake them for my soft-cookie-loving husband. I could *not* get the chilled brown butter to fully incorporate; I let the butter/cream cheese/sugar mixture sit in the stand mixer for hours to hopefully soften the butter, but still there were butter chunks that just would not be beaten in smoothly, so I feel like this really is a food processor recipe. This extended wait time definitely (unfairly?) raised my expectations for the cookie. We found them to be definitely delicious, though very different in flavor from a true snickerdoodle. The browned butter dough smelled amazing, but I didn’t feel like I tasted it in the final product (though maybe I just didn’t know what flavor to expect?). The texture was delightful, but it was fiddly enough for me that these won’t be in the regular rotation.
Totally agree. OG is better. I did use food processor and it worked beautifully.
Huge snickerdoodle fan. Classic cookie for a reason. SK’s original recipe has always been my go to. Can’t resist testing a new version. Made these today. Came together easily. Used the food processor method. Guessing it was the water, but I did have a small pool of liquid in the frozen butter bowl. Froze for close to 40 minutes. I don’t think it had any impact on recipe. Yield was 32 cookies using the #40 scoop. I was a bit underwhelmed. Definitely tasty, but the OG reigns supreme in my book.
Is the stand mixer version still supposed to use super hard butter? Is there a reason it has to be so thoroughly chilled? I feel like it makes it kinda difficult to incorporate into the cream cheese.
Just my two cents, but I wouldn’t use frozen in the stand mixer. I would get it to a solid but non frozen state. I did use the food processor so it was a non issue, but in my cookie baking experience (lots of it) I would not freeze the butter solid.
Is the stand mixer version still supposed to use super hard butter? Is there a reason it has to be so thoroughly chilled? I feel like it makes it kinda difficult to incorporate into the cream cheese.
Not at all. The freezer isn’t to make it rock-hard, just to solidify it in under a couple hours, which is how long it usually takes in the fridge. As soon as the butter isn’t liquid, you can take it out of the freezer.
I made these last night! First, they are DELICIOUS. If you are a lover of browned butter (I am) you really get it here. Mine baked up quite flat, which I don’t mind in terms of flavor, but I notice that yours were a bit puffier. I wonder what I might have done wrong. No matter! I’ll be making these again and again!
These are absolutely the best Snickerdoodles I’ve ever had or made. I’m not a huge cream cheese fan but it really helps these cookies stay a bit soft (but not cakey). The only thing I did differently from Deb was to add a teaspoon or so of cinnamon to the dough because I think every Snickerdoodle needs more cinnamon! Thanks Deb for another outstanding recipe!
Just made these and they are amazing! Even better than the classic in my opinion as the brown butter and vanilla bean really amp up the flavour, and there’s a nice tang from the cream cheese. Personally, I like that there’s no cream of tartar because it always leaves a weird taste in my mouth.
I want to make them with chocolate chips (please don‘t judge me) – do you think that would work, or would I need to make adjustments?
Deb, thank you for doing for the snickerdoodles of the world what you have already done for crispy treats (your brown butter version are only ones I ever make or eat since the first time I tried them). The addition of brown butter and absence of cream of tartar (with it’s weird metallic taste) have turned these into a forever favorite with the first batch. I used the food processor method which worked perfectly as advertised. I made and refrigerated the brown butter a few days ahead, so the dough was easy to put together and bake when I was ready. Great taste, great texture! IMO, this recipe surpasses what any traditional “regular” snickerdoodle recipe could hope to be.
I am a huge SK fan and every recipe I have tried has been amazing…until this one. Maybe it was because I thought it was going to be an elevated snickerdoodle. To me, other than rolling in cinnamon, it was not close to tasting like a snickerdoodle. Maybe if I didn’t think it was going to taste like one of my favorite types is cookies, I would have liked it better.
I just saw this posted last week and decided to make them. GREAT recipe. I love how the cookies stay soft. I wonder if the cream cheese helps them to stay soft. The only change I will make is adding some cinnamon to the cookie dough and not just roll the cookies in cinnamon sugar.
I agree! I wished I had added some to my dough as well after tasting the first batch, and for a few of them I tried splitting the ball in half and dipping it in cinnamon sugar and then squishing it back together. Worked pretty well, and reminded me a little of SK’s cinnamon scones.
These are delicious! I wouldn’t change a thing.
My boyfriend’s new favorite snickerdoodle!
I totally goofed cooling down the butter and creamed it as a slushy semi-soft mess, but the cream cheese compensated for my deficit there. The flavor of the cream cheese is excellent as well.
To minimize bowls I added the baking soda and baking powder during the creaming phase a la Stella Parks. Came out perfect!
I also used bourbon instead of vanilla extract. I do want to play around with other liquors – if you’re part of the liquor instead of vanilla extract club I’d love to hear ideas.
I froze the dough after the rolling step and the cookies are still pretty good.
I’ll be making these again!
I hate to say this, but I’m disappointed in these. The browned butter flavor is lost behind the cinnamon. Such a waste of a beautiful cup of browned butter. Almost without exception SM recipes are my favorites (I’m looking at you Deepest Dish Apple Pie), but this fell very short to me. Dry. Crumbly. Had to bake 7 min., not 10 to get them to be moist-ish. Don’t know what to say, but I would save my browned butter for something else.
Based on the comments about Jesse Szewczyk’s recipe, I just tried Deb’s recipe with bourbon instead of water. Results: you don’t need to add it to the butter because it will not freeze together (I had a disc of solidified butter on top that revealed a pool of bourbon below; this did make it easier to get out of the bowl than in batch #1 made with water though). But the flavor is very deep and has a holiday, festive sort of aspect to it – which I think is because the alcohol may not have baked off entirely (if at all). Definitely recommended though if you’re able to share them with people who are okay with alcohol!
“Impenitent cringe”—-you are the best writer in the food world! I come here to read what you say equally as eagerly as to know the recipe.
Me, too!
These are insanely good!! Just made them yesterday for the first time, and they have an amazing tender texture without being cakey. I didn’t have vanilla bean paste but I did splurge for the Burlap and Barrel cinnamon and browned/froze the butter. I sneaked a taste of the brown butter & sugar before adding the rest of the ingredients and almost just stopped there – that perfect toffee flavor omg! My husband prefers crispy snickerdoodles, more like the traditional ones, but to me these are perfect.
Does anyone know if you can “pause” this recipe and have the browned butter + water chill in the fridge for longer (say overnight)? And if you did chill it in the fridge overnight, would you want to bring it up to room temp before attempting to mix it? I’m trying to save myself some time in the morning by getting the ingredients “prepped” the night before.
I made these using a stand mixer and they came out beautifully! I will definitely be making them again! There is a subtle tang from the cream cheese, a soft-cakey texture inside, and a thin, crispy outer crust. Perfect for fall.
Personally, I was not bothered by the omission of cream of tartar. The only slight adjustment I made was to cool the brown butter in the fridge. I made the brown butter earlier in the day, let it come to room temperature, and then cooled it the fridge to become solid. I followed the recipe using the weight measurements and everything worked as described. The dough came together nicely. I used a #40 scoop and made 32 cookies.
Hi Deb – ran into a weird problem making these today. I made as written but with a handheld mixer. When rolling the balls in sugar, the sugar did not stick to the cookies (only the cinnamon). Any idea why or what I can do to help? I am wondering if the butter didn’t get as broken down as it should have with the handheld mixer?
I’m currently doing a cookie competition at my office. Essentially March Madness but for cookies. Snickerdoodle made it all the way to semis using Deb/Martha’s classic receipe. I decided to switch things up for this round and the feedback has been insane. Several people have told me this is the best cookie they’ve ever had (I might be one of those people…). I loved that OG receipe as well but there’s something really special about this one. Hoping to take it all the way!
These are so freaking good. I didn’t know that my traditional snickerdoodle recipe was missing something until I made these. My kids are already fighting over the cookies and I’m over here sad that they’re already disappearing so quickly. Only note is that I started with the food processor technique and I wish I would’ve just began with my stand mixer. It came together so much quicker and easier for me when I switched to the mixer.
Made these with gf 1-1 flour, added an extra egg yolk and chilled the dough for a few hours. Came out great!