These Snickerdoodles without Cream of Tartar give you the same soft and chewy texture and slightly tangy flavor of a traditional snickerdoodle. Without an extra trip to the grocery store!
As a trained pastry chef, I can tell you that baking is all about chemistry. Precise measuring of ingredients matter, as does time and temperature. Replacing cream of tartar in this recipe took a few attempts of playing with ingredients and measurements, but in the end I finished with a recipe that will fool even the pickiest snickerdoodle fans. Read on for the tips and tricks that make this recipe work.
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Why You'll Love This Easy Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe
- Delicious flavor: Snickerdoodles are a classic cookie, and are a perfect addition to any cookie tray!
- Great for make-ahead: These cookies can easily be made in advance, and stay soft and chewy for several days after baking.
- Easy ingredients: Think cream of tartar is a key ingredient? Not at all. Read on for the easy trick to replace the leavening and slightly tangy flavor that comes from the cream of tartar in a traditional snickerdoodle recipe.
Ingredients for Snickerdoodles
- Sugar: This recipe uses two types of sugar, both granulated and light brown sugar. You could replace the light brown sugar with dark brown sugar for a slightly deeper flavor. Alternatively, you could choose to use all granulated sugar instead of adding in the brown sugar.
- Butter: I like to use unsalted butter and add salt to the recipe, but if you only have salted butter, you can use that, and reduce the added salt to ¼ teaspoon. You can also replace up to half the butter with shortening.
- Lemon Juice: This is key to the replacement of the cream of tartar, so please don’t leave it out. If you don’t have lemon juice however, try substituting white vinegar.
- Flour: These cookies use a classic all-purpose flour. I have not tested these with any flour substitutes—if you do, please comment below and let me know.
- Cinnamon: The classic Snickerdoodle recipe calls for the cookie balls to be rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture. You could add a little cinnamon to the batter as well if you want to double down on the cinnamon flavor.
How to Make Snickerdoodles Without Cream of Tartar
Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat 1 cup granulated sugar, ½ cup packed brown sugar, and 1 cup softened butter together on medium-high speed. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
Then add in 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla. Beat for 1 more minute, until well-combined. Whisk 2 ¾ cups flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt together in another bowl.
Use a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon to stir the dry ingredients into the batter, just until combined.
Put batter into the refrigerator for 15 minutes. While batter is chilling, mix ¼ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon together in a small bowl.
Scoop batter into tablespoon-sized balls, then roll balls into cinnamon-sugar mixture. A 1.5-inch cookie scoop makes this super easy.
Place on a small sheet pan or plate, and chill for another 15-30 minutes. While cookie balls are chilling, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. When cookie balls are chilled, place on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
Bake for 12-14 minutes, switching the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. The snickerdoodles are done when they are no longer raw in the middle, and are golden brown.
Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then move onto a cooling wire rack. When one of the baking sheets is cool, line again with parchment paper and bake the last dozen cookies.
FAQs for Snickerdoodle Recipe Without Cream of Tartar
Cream of tartar is both a leavening agent (like baking soda and baking powder), and also adds a slight tangy flavor to baked goods. You can either replace cream of tartar with baking powder at a 1:1.5 ratio (1 teaspoon cream of tartar : 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder), or you can replace cream of tartar with the combination of baking soda and either lemon juice or vinegar (as with this recipe).
Because the cream of tartar in a classic snickerdoodle recipe provides a slightly tangy flavor, we chose the combination of baking soda and lemon juice as the cream of tartar substitution.
This is unclear. Snickerdoodles may have come from Germany originally, and it’s possible their name was taken from a German word called Schneckennudel. However, other sources think that “snickerdoodle” may just be a made-up word that sounds fun as a cookie name!
No, the beauty of this recipe is that the texture of the snickerdoodles using the combination of baking soda and lemon juice is the same as using cream of tartar. Soft, but chewy!
How to Store Snickerdoodles
Homemade snickerdoodles will stay fresh for 3-5 days after baking. Just keep at room temperature in an airtight container.
If you would like to freeze your cookies, you can either freeze them before baking or after. To freeze the snickerdoodle cookie dough balls before baking, chill them on a plate in the freezer first, then move to a freezer bag when they are fully chilled. Then bake directly from the freezer, adding a couple minutes of baking time.
If the cookies are already baked, you can put them in a freezer bag or an airtight container and freeze them. (Wait for them to cool before freezing.) Defrost at room temperature and enjoy!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
For these easy snickerdoodles, you can absolutely use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer instead of a stand mixer. Set the hand mixer on high, and know that it will take longer to get to the right consistency. Try multiplying the mixing time by 1.5 or 2.
Don’t overmix your dough if you like a chewy texture for your cookie. The more you beat the mixture, the cakier your cookies will turn out. We are team chewy cookie around here!
Note that when you first add the lemon juice to the batter, the batter may look a little curdled. Don’t worry, it will smooth out as you mix it.
The more you chill the dough for this recipe, the thicker your cookies will be. For best results, we recommend 30 minutes overall so that the cookies rise a little, but are still chewy. If you want them to rise higher, add more chill time. On the contrary, if you like flat, very chewy cookies, you can skip chilling the dough.
Note that some recipes call for pressing down the dough balls gently to flatten—this step is unnecessary with this recipe, and will result in very flat cookies.
Want to take your traditional snickerdoodles to the next level? Add toffee bits and make these Toffee Doodle Cookies! Or, try them in bar form with these easy Snickerdoodle Bars or in a skillet with this Snickerdoodle Pizookie.
These snickerdoodles are so good on a holiday cookie platter. Add in these Chocolate Peppermint Cookies too!
Other Delicious Cookie Recipes
If you love these soft snickerdoodles, you may want to check out some of our other delicious cookie recipes. Maybe you're a shortbread cookie fan too? Don't miss our Cacao Nib Hazelnut Cookies, our Strawberry Shortbread Cookies, or our Lemon Shortbread Cookies.
Or try these Homemade Sugar Cookies, that are all kinds of delicious. And of course White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies and giant-size Snickers Cookies are always a crowd pleaser!
And of course you can find all sorts of baked goods like these in our Dessert Archive too:
If you try this easy snickerdoodle recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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Snickerdoodles Recipe without Cream of Tartar
Ingredients
For the Cookie Batter
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed (88g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups flour (340g)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For Rolling
- ¼ cup sugar (50g)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter together on medium-high speed. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
- Add in eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat for 1 more minute, until well-combined.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in another bowl.
- Use a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon to stir the dry ingredients into the batter, just until combined.
- Put batter into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- While batter is chilling, mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- Scoop batter into small balls, then roll balls into cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Place on a small sheet pan or plate, and chill for another 15-30 minutes.
- While cookie balls are chilling, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- When cookie balls are chilled, place on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, switching the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through.
- Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move onto a cooling rack.
- When one of the baking sheets is cool, line again with parchment paper and bake the last dozen cookies.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made these snickerdoodle cookies without cream of tartar, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Cynthia says
Top notch! Delicious 😋 😋 😋 tyfs! My sister and grandson love these cookies, their favorite! First time making these, so quick and easy to follow directions 😁❤💯!
So soft and the Cinnamon was perfect! Merry Christmas and Happy 2026 New Year be blessed!
Molly Pisula says
Glad to hear that, Cynthia! Happy New Year!
DK says
Followed this recipe to the letter and the cookies were somehow overcooked and undercooked at the same time.
Molly Pisula says
Very sorry to hear that. Did you weigh your ingredients? I highly recommend that, and it's always the first thing I check when someone has a problem with a baking recipe.
Daniel Ogrady says
I followed this recipe twice to a t. they turned out cakey and dry. here's my suggestion: wait to make them until you have cream of tartar.
Molly Pisula says
I'm sorry to hear that these didn't work for you. Did you weigh the ingredients rather than using the cup measures? I always recommend weighing because the amount of flour and sugar really changes pretty dramatically depending on how people scoop. I'm wondering if that's what happened. I just made these cookies again a few weeks ago, and the texture is not cakey or dry.
Janessa says
Not going to lie, these cookies did not turn out well. I was very unimpressed with the result. I followed the recipe to a T and very carefully. I followed the tips to chill for 30 minutes for a thicker cookie. I followed the culinary method of measuring flour. I cooked them for 12 minutes. The first batch came out burnt. I tried 8 minutes and that was best. Beyond that, my cookies were very flat and didn’t taste much like a snickerdoodle. I’m not sure what I might have done wrong but I’ll be going with a different recipe next time.
Joana says
As someone who finds making tartar quite fussy, I went ahead and tried this one, and I'm surprised by how well this recipe turned out! The absence of tartar didn't seem to affect the flavor or the texture of the cookies at all.
Molly Pisula says
So glad these worked for you, Joana--you really don't miss it at all!
Shelby says
I never have cream of tartar on hand so these are perfect to whip up "anytime"! Plus, I love how soft they come out.
Traci says
Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies but I ran out of cream of tartar! Loved that I came across this recipe and was able to make the perfect cookie without the cream of tartar!
Chef Molly says
Yes! I never have cream of tartar when I need it. In fact, now that I can make snickerdoodles without it, I may not buy it again!
MacKenzie says
Thank you for the recipe. Love that it is without cream of tarter.
Ksenia says
I never have cream of tartar - so these cookies are a welcome recipe!
Chef Molly says
Yes! Definitely try them--you won't notice a difference in taste or texture!
Kris says
I never have cream of tartar on hand so this recipe came in handy! The touch of brown sugar was perfect. I will be making these again!
Nora says
Have made one batch already. And looking in the cookie jar like this, I'll be making another batch soon! Thank you so much! The whole family loves this recipe!