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.
Hi, I am curious, what brand of flour and sugar do you use for baking?
I tried them yesterday, following your logic about colder dough having less time to flatten out in the oven, but did not have the expected result of a cookie with a softer crumb and more crackles. I refrigerated the dough overnight, then baked one batch after letting the dough ‘thaw’ for 30 minutes. Then I baked a second batch that, after rolling into balls, I put in the freezer for 15 minutes. Both batches came out flat and chewy, rather than taller and cakier. Any thoughts on what caused this?
You know, I had the same issue as Cynthia. I just refrigerated it for an hour, but when I scooped it out and flattened it with a fork, it cracked a LOT more than in your photo, and when it cooked they flattened out and the edges got crispy. I’ll try cooking them for less time in the future, and maybe making the balls, smushing them, THEN cooling and baking them.
To Jessica:
I have a great cinnamon bun roll from a neighbor when I was growing up that’s super-easy to veganize. I’ve had incredible results with it.
Dough Ingredients
6 3/4 (+1/8) cup of flour
1/3 cup oil (canola, light vegetable)
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
2 eggs*
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons yeast
1/4 lb (1 cube) melted butter (earth balance)
Topping
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cinnamon
Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
dash of vanilla
enough milk (rice, almond, soy) to make thin
Instructions
-Mix oil, sugar, salt, and eggs*
* – I like to boil flaxseeds to make ‘eggs.’ I estimate 1 egg equals 1/3 cup of liquid. Boil your liquid (for two eggs, 2/3 cups water) with flaxseeds (about 1 teaspoon per egg, so 2 teaspoons). Boil for about 5 minutes, then strain out the flax seeds. You’re left with a liquid that has the consistency (when cold, though you don’t need to cool it) of egg whites and binds, does a little leavening, and wets foods.
-Next, dissolve the yeast in the hot water (should be at about 100 degrees F). Let it sit about 10 minutes, to proof the yeast (should get frothy and smell yeasty).
-Mix with oil etc. mixture.
-Add flour gradually and knead until smooth.
-Let rise until double (a couple of hours) or put in greased bowl, cover, and let rise in refrigerator overnight.
-Punch down. Roll dough out until flat (about 1/4 inch thick) and spread with the melted butter/earth balance.
-Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (topping).
-Roll up your dough, then cut into 1/2-3/4 inch tall rolls.
-Place in greased (Earth Balance is recommended) and let rise again until double (again, an hour or two). This should be done in a warm place.
-Once they’ve risen, cook in oven at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 325 and cook for another 10 minutes (on convect if possible). Keep in mind all ovens vary and keep an eye on them. They should have a nice light browning on top.
-Mix up the icing. I HIGHLY recommend sifting your sugar (a wire mesh strainer is a great tool for this), add vanilla and enough milk (of whatever type you like) to thin it out.
-Drizzle the icing over the cinnamon buns while they’re warm so it spreads down the sides.
I hope this works for you – it’s been GREAT to me and I plan on making it this week!
I have been meaning to make snickerdoodles ever since becoming vegan; they were definitely in my top 5 favorite cookies. Thanks for reminding me!
i just made a double batch of this cookie dough and put it in the fridge. it seemed a bit crumbly, so i added a splash of soymilk and it slightly helped, but i’m worried that they won’t hold so well.
could it be an issue with the temperature of the margarine? i left it outside for ten minutes but it’s pretty cold in here and i couldn’t get the energ/sugar/eb/vanilla mixture to be quite as fluffy as yours.
*crossing fingers!*
These look amazing! I will defiantly be making these as presents.
I was wondering what ‘eggnog’ recipe you use as I have been trying to find a nice one for the past few years. Any tips would be greatly appreciated
Hi. These cookies look so delicious. I need to prepare something for the Christmas party of my daughter and I thought I can make these recipe, but I live in Paris and here we don’t have any egg replacer or Earth Balance products. Could you please help me to find out what to put instead? For the egg I use to put 2 tablespoon milk and 1/4 of baking powder but the Earth balance, I don’t even know what product is. Many thanks.
[...]this is the best Snickerdoodle recipe, and sugar cookie recipe for that matter, I’ve tried so far…The recipe was also a little dry[...]
Great!! looks delicious!! thumbs up!!
Help?
I’ve used Earth Balance for cookies before and they end up hard after a few hours.
What is earth balance- and can i replace it with butter?
GREAT RECIPE! Loved these babies! Thank goodness I doubled it!
Im sorry the above sounds bloody disgusting! Ener-g Egg? Each to their own I suppose!
I made these last night and they turned out beautiful! Next time I’ll take them right off of the cookie sheet, and not wait for 10 minutes….
I really like your photos of your cooking. They are quite stunning! And now I am craving snickerdoodles like crazy — I’ve made them in the past and I agree with you about cinnamon and sugar. Totally marvelous!
With the holidays comes chocolate overload. Snickerdoodles are perfect for something sweet & non-choco. (I like the cracked-textured ones best)
I didn’t know these cookies were called snickerdoodles until now.
They look gorgeous!
I’ll have to try cooling my dough. I’ve been looking to get my cookies to be chewier. I’ve never refrigerated the dough before, but mine always turn out soft. They’re more cakey then chewy though. A few things I’ve found is sifting the dry ingredients helps make a fluffier cookie. I also don’t press mine down with anything, I just leave them as balls. They come out really puffy, but will fall as they cool. Also I will add some cinnamon (about 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon) to the dough to add even more flavor.
These turned out wonderfully! I’m going to have to make a double batch next time, these only lasted about 10 minutes once they left the oven. Great post as always!
i cant wait to try this! looks so yummy..thanks for the recipe..
I noticed that a couple people asked about Earth Balance. Earth Balance is a non-hydrogenated (no trans fats) margarine.
I made these to give out as holiday gifts, complete with the brown ribbon and everything (ADORABLE). I would suggest to decrease the size of each cookie to 1 tbsp. instead of 2 when you’re measuring them out to drop onto the cookie sheet before baking. I made one batch at the 2 tbsp. size and they came out ginormous, not like the picture. Also, the yield was extremely low. If you make them smaller, I think they look better, cook better, and the yield is good, but I would still double the recipe. Thanks for such a great holiday cookie post!!
these were SUPER easy to make. i ate a bunch right after they came out of the oven. however, they soon turned as hard as rocks. any tips?
Only my favorite cookie in the whole world!
I have never made snickerdoodles before, but after reading this post, I am definitely going to be making them soon. They look wonderful!
Thanks so much for the recipe! You may have just saved Christmas.
i made these cookies last night, and mine turned out really really really hard…and the dough was very crumbly…any suggestions on what i did wrong?
ty,
alina
I made these by substituting 2 tbsp soymilk for the egg replacer and 1 tsp of cornstarch for the cream of tartar and they came out beautifully! Yum!
Thank you so much for these I made four batches and one with my husbands children.
Everyone loved them!!!
I have a question about your photos. How do you get that border around them?
YUM! I have a batch of these in the oven right now – making for a birthday present. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for this recipe, especially the tip about the cold dough. I like my cookies puffy!
I’ve been reading your blog for about a month now, and I wanted to thank you for the info you provided about your photography. I got a new camera for Christmas and just started a food and knitting blog, so I think of you as a mentor. I’m learning how to use aperture, but so far all my photos are unadulterated.
Thanks so much for the recipes, photos, and inspiration. Keep it up!
Made these last night. I was almost out of Earth Balance, so I used half the Earth Balace and made up the other half with apple sauce. After I chilled the dough, though, I had to add a little more flour so I could handle it (it was a bit sticky). They turned out perfect and are quite delicious.
Best Cookie EVERRRRR and I’m not even vegan. Hugeee hit at a bake sale and with my belly.
I made these for my boyfriend and my self but used 1 tbs of ground flax seeds and 3 tbs of fairly warm water insted of 1 Ener-g Egg-Replacer Egg.
It worked like a charm and the cookies didn’t last the better part of a day.
The dough needs to be chilled! That explains why the many times I’ve tried making snickerdoodles they’ve come out flat as pancakes. No recipe I’ve ever found has said that.
My 2 year old loves snickerdoodles, but is allergic to potato (along with soy, pea, wheat, dairy, eggs), which is a key ingredient in EnerG Egg Replacer. Does anyone have ideas about another egg substitute that is good for baking soft, “pillowy” cookies and cakes?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these. Might have to do a post on them on my blog soon. I’ve had 3 Omnis tell me these are the best snickerdoodles they’ve ever had and one of the claimed to not like snickerdoodles at all. She ate 3.
Keep it up, this is one of my favourite blogs ever – AND – I just bought the book!
Your pictures are simply beautiful. The brown ribbon is perfect to make them a special treat for friends & family! ….and the cookies….superb!! Thanks so much for your blog.
these were a huge hit with my son who has food allergies! I tried both ways… baking right away and then making into balls and chilling overnight. Both ways were great but the second way produced that slight crisp outside with crackles and soft middle. Yum! I am making them again today with cinnamon and orange sugar for a class party for my son.
beautiful photographs…
who wouldn’t want to cook your recipes! you make they so delicious-looking!
i can’t wait to try this one…
guylaine
I have made Snickerdoodles for the whole family at Christmas for over 25 years. I use an old family recipe. My mother-in-law died leaving her 4 children orphans when my husband was 9 yrs old. So making these cookies from her recipe is very precious to them.
I make plenty for the Chirstmas party, and then huge tins full for everyone to take home. Everyone has tried to bake these, but say I bake them the best. (sure…)
I have been vegetarian for 2 years and am now trying vegan. Glad to get this recipe. Can hardly wait to try it.
Why parchment paper?
I have greased the pan in the past, because PP is expensive. Does it make a difference?
We have your book and my daughter made these snickerdoodles twice over the holidays. They were fantastic! I also made your tofu with orange marmalade and some other things, also from the book. Again–fantastic! You did good, Lauren! ;)