Snickerdoodles
I love snickerdoodles. Plain sugar cookies just don’t do it for me, but roll them in a little cinnamon-sugar and I’m sold. (Roll nearly anything in cinnamon sugar and I’m sold.)
This is a cookie that preforms beautifully when veganized. If you have a family recipe you use, I can almost guarantee you that all you need to do is sub Earth Balance Margarine for butter and Ener-g G Egg Replacer for eggs and you’ll be set. Here is a recipe I made after checking out several different snickerdoodle recipes. It’s fast, easy, and pretty near failproof. In fact, stick some ribbon on them and you have an instant holiday gift!
One thing you should know, that I just found out today. The temperature of the cookie dough as it goes in the oven determines the shape and overall look of the cookies. If you want cookies that are pillowy and show a lot of cracks and texture, the dough needs to be pretty cold as it goes into the oven. If you like thinner, more even-looking cookies, let the dough warm up a little before baking.
If the dough is cold, the cookies don’t have much time to warm up and flatten out before the outside of the cookie bakes and prevents further expansion. If it’s already a little warm, the cookies will expand and spread (and flatten) in the first few minutes of cooking. The pictures above are cookies baked when the dough was cold. The photo to the left was made with warmer-dough.
These cookies are a snap if you make them in a stand-mixer, but only take slightly more elbow grease if you’re doing them by hand. And they ship beautifully.
Snickerdoodles
Makes about 18 Cookies
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Earth Balance
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Prepared Ener-g Egg-Replacer Egg
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
Cinnamon Sugar, for rolling
Cream sugar, Earth Balance, and vanilla extract together. Prepare the Ener-G Egg by following the package instructions (1 1/2 tsp powder whisked with 2 Tbs hot water until foamy), and add it to the Earth Balance and sugar mixture. Whip (or whisk) it all up until it’s light a fluffy, like so:
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Add 2/3 of the dry ingredients to the whipped mixture and whip until combined. Add in the remaining flour and mix by hand. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375º F.
When the dough is chilled, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a #40 ice cream scoop, make balls of dough (each ball will be made with 2 Tbs of dough, if you don’t have a #40 scoop). Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar.
Now time to squish them! Using a fork (or whatever you want), squish the dough out into cookie shapes.
Bake at 375º F for 10 minutes for chewy cookies, 12 minutes for crunchy. Remove from oven and let sit for 30 seconds. They’ll be very soft when they come out of the oven, but that’s just fine! Gently remove cookies from the baking sheet and let cool for a few minutes on a wire rack before serving.
These are especially good with soy nog. Just saying.
Gorgeous!
I had no idea warm and cold cookie doughs behave differently! I think I like the cracked, textured ones better :)
I love snickerdoodles, too! Thanks for the recipe!
nice! what does the cream of tartar do?
They look delish! And I agree thast they will make the perfect holiday gift!
Oh man how I LOVE snickerdoodles. You’re making my mouth water.
yummo!
Those pictures are beautiful. I like the cold dough crackly ones. mmmm…. i haven’t had a snickerdoodle in SO long.
at last, someone has finally explained why sometimes cookies spread like crazy and other times they crack. you’re my heroine :D xx
These look yummy! I will definitely give them a go. I have heard of Snickerdoodles (I was oblivious to them here in the U.K until I started to read American vegan blogs) but I always assumed they were peanutty for some reason. I am off to look them up on wikipedia now to see where they got their name from >:o)
Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie…ever! I’m with you when you say roll anything in cinnamon and you’ll eat it. I put it on nearly everything!
A classic cookie favorite!
They look delicious!! Sorry I am not a vegan but in any case I love your recipes and photos and I really would like to try these fantastic cookies…
What I wanted to ask you is can I use the same quantity of butter instead of Earth Balance? and Ther Ener-g Replacer egg is equivalent to 1 egg?
Thank you very much and keep on this great job! :)
who wouldnt want to eat something called a snickerdoodle and when they look this good who wouldnt want to eat them all?
“The temperature of the cookie dough as it goes in the oven determines the shape and overall look of the cookies. If you want cookies that are pillowy and show a lot of cracks and texture, the dough needs to be pretty cold as it goes into the oven. If you like thinner, more even-looking cookies, let the dough warm up a little before baking.”
This snippet of information just made my life a better place. :)
The photos are totally beautiful too!
Oh my goodness do those look delicious! Such a pretty picture, I was drooling immediately!
Great tips about the cookie dough!Your cookies look beautiful!
I love snickerdoodles, but the past few years I’ve rolled them in five spice powder + sugar and it is amazing!
I’ve totally been craving snickerdoodles lately, so I’m thrilled that you posted this.
You can also add a bit more flour to your recipe and they will stay more puffy and not spread so much. I stick my cookies (on the sheet) in the freezer a few minutes before I pop them in the oven.
The cream of tartar lends to the texture of the cookie, but most importantly it gives that tangy flavor that differentiates a snickerdoodle from a mere sugar cookie, not just the cinnamon sugar.
I also personally hate the carmelized/burnt sugar on the bottom, so I only roll the tops in cinnamon/sugar.
Do you use the Earth Balance in a tub or stick? I’m used to using sticks, but I can never find trans-fat-free margarine in a stick.
I use the tubs – you can remove the whole block from the tub easily and cut it into quarters (1/2 cup per quarter) for measuring while baking.
Oh tis the season to eat snickerdoodles! I love the tip about the dough temperature. I’ll have to make sure my cookies are nice and cold next time because I like the cracks.
Those cookies look sooo good!
And that little brown ribbon tying them all together adds the perfect touch :)
Great tip about the warm/cold dough thing. I can’t wait to try this recipe. They look fantastic!
ooh! yum!! :)
ok now i have to make snickerdoodles! we just always rolled them and left them rolled on the cookie sheet while baking and they are quite yummy! if they are really poofy when they come out you flatten them with a spatula before trasfering to a rack!
*drooooling*
I made snickerdoodles last night and I’ve been eating them all day! Yours look great!
Oh, I forgot to mention that I rolled half of them in a pumpkin pie spice/sugar mixture and half in the regular cinnamon sugar. I still can’t decide which I like better!
Wow, one of my faves! Its nearing midnight and Im considering whippin out the kitchenaid…
Hey I just have to tell you your blog is awesome! I read about it in VegNews and now Im a lifelong fan. Your recipes sound incredible and the pics are fantastic. I already made one of your recipes, the Spicy Lemon Pepper Pasta with Broccoli. It was delicious. I ate for dinner last night and lunch today…and now I wish I had more. Im planning on trying many more of your recipes. Im more vegetarian than vegan, but I do eat vegan food quite often. Im going shopping this weekend to stock up on goodies to get cooking. Thanks for taking the time to show that veg food can be easy, fun and YUMMY!
The cookie dough temperature thing just made my life a billion times better. And possibly fatter.
Thank you.
When you use Earth Balance for recipes like this, do you let it soften first? If so, for about how long?
They look so yummy. I’m very fond of this sort of simple recipe. And pressing on with a fork for the pattern is simple but effective as they look amazing.
beautiful!!
beautiful cookies
yummy!!
Have no idea what a snickerdoodle is…something American I gather…
Oh my gosh, you rule!!
The photos are so gorgeous & yummy!!
Thank you for posting this. I can’t wait to make them!
Winx, Jinxi
First, “snickerdoodle” is the best cookie name ever.
Second,
wow on the pictures. Really nice!
oh my goodness, thank you SO MUCH! my boyfriend LOVES snickerdoodles and will be so pleased i can make them now!!
Yet another great recipe. Thank you!
I have a question regrading Earth Balance and baking. I was using it last year for my Christmas cooking/baking and I have noticed that it gives a slight aftertaste to all the bake goods. I made a batch of brownies and this aftertaste was pretty strong (maybe because EB was mixed with chocolate?). Since then I’ve been trying to avoid it in baking and I use coconut oil whenever possible. Have you noticed anything similar? Does it depend on the way you use it/warm it up?
SOO… I’ve been looking for a snickerdoodle recipe for a while. I found a lot on the internet [[vegan ones]] but I prefer to find ones from credited people or with comments… just so I know it works. And since you pretty much gave me the most amazing donut recipe in the world– i trust these are amazing..
stoked to make them!
I love this recipe! And I haven’t even tried it yet! I must make them soon!
I love the fact that such classic and ubiquitous cookie can be veganized!
Thank you for the tip about dough temperature, that is definitely one thing that I’ve had to learn the hard way a few times (sticky too warm dough is hard to work with!). But with this recipe it’d be good either way!
Thank you for sharing the recipe! Much, much vegan appreciation!
These look great! I just made the dough and it’s cooling in the frig right now…
I have a question about salt. I usually put a little bit of salt in my cookies and noticed that your recipe has none. Do you prefer a bit of salt in your cookies/baked goods, or do you think it doesn’t make much of a difference?
Those look perfectly delicious!
What a great tip about the temperature of the dough and something I’ll definitely be keeping in mind! Thanks!
Dude. Another sweet success. These’s were easy peasy and even though I forgot the cream of tartar and the baking soda until after I’d made the dough they still worked a treat.
FOR ANYONE MAKING THESE IN THE UK….
I subbed Vitalite (which is now officially vegan!) for Earth Balance. I grew up in America where cinnamon sugar is commonplace but not so here! 1/4 cup of sugar to 4 tsp cinnamon (thanks Wikipedia!). Also, instead of the Ener-g stuff (which I’ve never seen here) I used the Holland and Barratt egg replacer mixed in with the flour. My first batch didn’t cook properly and ‘melted’ rather than cooked so I turned up the heat a bit and left them in for longer. Presto chango – perfect cookies.
Thanks, Lauren!
I think it would be great if you came up with/perfected a recipe for vegan cinnamon rolls (yeast-risen). I’ve seen a lot of recipes out there but don’t know what to try!
Can I sub 1/2 tsp baking powder for the cream of tartar and baking soda?
I made these this afternoon and omg, they’re so good! Thanks for the recipe!
Beautiful!