Soft and chewy five-spice snickerdoodle cookies are rich with cinnamon and five spice for a beautifully deep flavor. This is the best snickerdoodle recipe you will find and it only takes 30 minutes to make!
Snickerdoodle cookies are iconic holiday cookies. They are buttery soft, have a subtle chewiness, and have the perfect amount of sweetness. The best part about this soft and chewy five-spice snickerdoodle recipe is that you’ll taste all the best parts of a traditional snickerdoodle but with a more complex cinnamon spice flavor.
Five spice powder is made of a mixture of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. The layers of these spices paired with cinnamon give the snickerdoodle cookie dough more complexity and flavor.
This easy snickerdoodle recipe will take you less than 30 minutes and does not need any chill time! If you loved this chewy snickerdoodle recipe, be sure to check out my Danish butter cookies, matcha checkered cookies, and hojicha gingerbread cookies.
Table of Contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No chilling! Honestly, the best part about this easy five-spice snickerdoodle recipe is that you don’t need to chill the cookie dough!
- Easy. This easy snickerdoodle recipe can be made with only a few steps in under 30 minutes.
- Soft and chewy. These five-spice snickerdoodle cookies are soft and tender, and yet have a subtle chewy crumb to them.
🍽 Kitchen Equipment
For the best snickerdoodle recipe, all you need are three kitchen equipment items.
- Kitchen Scale: Not all measuring cups and spoons are made the same. The most foolproof way to measure the ingredients is to use a kitchen scale.
- Mixing Bowls: you will need mixing bowls to measure the ingredients and mix the dry ingredients together.
- Stand Mixer: these soft and chewy snickerdoodles can be made with a stand mixer or a hand mixer. You will need an electric mixer to fully cream the butter and sugar together to prevent the cookies from becoming grainy.
- Small Cookie Scoop: a small cookie scoop will ensure that you have evenly sized kitchen sink cookies.
- Parchment paper or Silicone mat: You can either line your baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat. A silicone slip mat is seriously the best invention for baking that ever existed. It is reusable, and sustainable and will 100% guarantee the holiday monster cookies easily slip off the tray.
- Half-Sheet Baking Trays: I have been using my Nordicware Aluminum half-sheet baking trays for years and it has never let me down.
🛒 Ingredients
You can find all of the ingredients for the best snickerdoodle recipe at your local grocery store!
- Baking Soda: baking soda aids in the rise of the snickerdoodle cookie dough to let some air in so the final texture is not too dense.
- Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar gives snickerdoodles their traditionally tangy flavor and aids in the rise and chewiness of the cookie.
- Salt: a pinch of salt balances and enhances the other ingredients. all baked goods need salt. Salt pushes a baked good from good to great.
- Cinnamon: it wouldn’t be a snickerdoodle without a rich and warm cinnamon flavor.
- Five Spice: five spice adds dimension and depth to the flavor profile.
- All-Purpose Flour: all-purpose flour creates a tender yet hearty crumb. Make sure to measure your flour with a scale! If you don't have a scale, make sure to fluff up the flour before spooning it into your measuring cup and lightly leveling it off with a knife. Do not pack the flour into the cup!
- Unsalted butter: the main reason behind using unsalted butter is so that you can control the amount of salt going into your cookies and ensure that they will brown evenly. Make sure to use room-temperature butter to easily cream your butter and sugar together.
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar: every solid cookie recipe is made with a mixture of brown sugar and white granulated sugar. This recipe uses 3x as much brown sugar as white sugar to have a richer molasse-y taste.
- Eggs: binds the cookie together and gives the cookie its soft, chewy yet not cakey texture.
- Vanilla Extract: vanilla extract is a MUST to add to the flavor profile of the cookie.
✨ Substitutions
- Baking Powder: if you do not have the cream of tartar, you can alternatively use baking powder instead of cream of tartar+baking soda.
📝 How to Make Five Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies
You can make this easy snickerdoodle recipe in under 30 minutes! So let’s get started.
- Prepare the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and five spice. Whisk until combined.
- Cream the butter. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-low until soft and fluffy about 1 minute. Then add in the granulated and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy about 3 more minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing on low. Then add the vanilla. Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula and mix until combined.
- Add dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Scrape down the edges of the bowl and mix in any remaining flour.
- Make cinnamon sugar. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, salt cinnamon, and five spice for rolling.
- Scoop and coat. Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the dough, then roll the dough into balls about 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough each. Then roll it into a cinnamon spice sugar mixture until thoroughly coated. Continue until all the dough has been scooped.
- Bake. Place the cinnamon-spiced cookie onto a parchment-lined or silicone-lined baking sheet 2 inches apart from each other. Bake until slightly puffed and golden about 10-11 minutes. Remove the soft snickerdoodle from the oven and allow it to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely.
⭐️ Tips for the Best Five Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Measure your flour with a scale! Adding too much flour to the snickerdoodle cookie dough will make it taste…like flour. The best way to measure flour is by using a scale. The second best is to fluff the flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into a measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- Use room-temperature butter and eggs. Use room temperature butter to easily cream and fluff the butter. Room-temperature eggs will be easier to blend into the chewy snickerdoodle cookie and allow it to rise more easily.
- Cream the butter for at least 5 minutes. Creaming the butter and sugar together evenly disperses the sugar and dissolves the sugar giving it a less grainy texture. Moreover, creaming adds air to the cookie creating a softer, more aerated, chewy, and soft cookie rather than a dense hard disc.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon spice sugar. Sprinkle the cinnamon spice sugar over each ball of snickerdoodle dough before baking. This will ensure you will have more cinnamon sugar when you bake them.
🥡 Storage Instructions
These soft snickerdoodles can be stored for up to 1 week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze baked snickerdoodles for up to 3 months. To serve, simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Alternatively, you can store the soft snickerdoodle cookie dough in the freezer for up to 3 months. Roll the balls out and chill them in the fridge or freezer until solid, then transfer to a sealable freezer bag and store them until ready to use. When you’re ready for soft and chewy snickerdoodle cookies just thaw for about 10 minutes while the oven heats up, roll in cinnamon sugar, and bake! You’ll probably want to add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
💬 Frequently Asked Q’s & A’s
Some historians say that their name comes from the German term Schnecke Knödel which can be translated as “snail dumpling” which refers to a snail-shaped pastry. It is also possible that the name has no particular meaning as well.
Soft snickerdoodle cookies are made with flour, butter, sugar, and salt and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. Essentially, they taste like cinnamon sugar cookies.
Cream of tartar gives snickerdoodles their traditionally tangy flavor and aids in the rise and chewiness of the cookie.
Snickerdoodle cookies have notes of cinnamon and are slightly softer and chewier than a traditional sugar cookies.
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe
Five Spice Snickerdoodle
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon (6 g) cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon (3 g) salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon five spice powder
- 2 ¾ cup (330 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Spice Sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon five spice
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Prepare the oven. Place the oven rack in the center o the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and five spice. Whisk until combined.
- Cream the butter. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-low until soft and fluffy about 1 minute. Then add in the granulated and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy about 3 more minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing on low. Then add the vanilla. Scrape the edges of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix until combined.
- Add dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Scrape the edges of the bowl and mix in any remaining flour.
- Make cinnamon sugar. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, salt cinnamon, and five spice for rolling.
- Scoop and coat. Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the dough, then roll the dough into balls about 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough each. Then roll it into a cinnamon spice sugar mixture until thoroughly coated. Continue until all the dough has been scooped.
- Bake. Place the cinnamon-spiced cookie onto a parchment lined or silicone lined baking sheet 2 inches apart from each other. Bake until slightly puffed and golden about 10-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Measure your flour with a scale! Adding too much flour to the snickerdoodle cookie dough will make it taste…like flour. The best way to measure flour is by using a scale. The second best is to fluff the flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into a measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- Use room-temperature butter and eggs. Use room temperature butter to easily cream and fluff the butter. Room-temperature eggs will be easier to blend into the chewy snickerdoodle cookie and allow it to rise more easily.
- Cream the butter for at least 5 minutes. Creaming the butter and sugar together evenly disperses the sugar and dissolves the sugar giving it a less grainy texture. Moreover, creaming adds air to the cookie creating a softer, more aerated, chewy, and soft cookie rather than a dense hard disc.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon spice sugar. Sprinkle the cinnamon spice sugar over each ball of snickerdoodle dough before baking. This will ensure you will have more cinnamon sugar when you bake them.
- Storage: These snickerdoodles can be stored for up to 1 week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze baked snickerdoodles for up to 3 months. To serve, simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
kat
I used a 1.5 T scoop and it yielded 35 cookies