These sourdough snickerdoodle cookies are soft, chewy, and easy to make. Perfectly balanced with cozy cinnamon and sweet sugar, these cookies will be a new holiday staple in your house.
I personally love to enjoy Snickerdoodles anytime from August-December (but honestly, they are great all year round!). Sourdough snickerdoodles are an obvious Christmas cookie idea, so be sure to save this recipe for winter!
Another cinnamony treat I love for the fall and winter is my cinnamon sugar biscoff blondies! You have to try those next.
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Ingredients
This snickerdoodle recipe is reminiscent of all classic snickerdoodles. The only difference is that it features a generous amount of sourdough discard! All ingredients should be familiar to you so that you can easily make these cookies and enjoy them with your friends and family.
- Unsalted butter
- Cane sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Sourdough discard
- All-purpose flour
- Cream of tartar
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Sugar (for rolling)
- Cardamom (optional)
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
These cookies are very easy to make, especially if you have a stand mixer! One thing to keep in mind, however, is the required chill time. You'll need to plan at least an hour (ideally 2-4 hours) ahead to make sure these turn out great.
- Step 1: Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
- Step 2: Mix in remaining wet ingredients until just combined.
- Step 3: Add the dry ingredients to the mixture and mix until combined. Cover and place in the fridge for at least one hour.
- Step 4: Make a cinnamon sugar mixture. Scoop 2 tablespoon balls out of the chilled dough and roll in sugar. Place on a prepared baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Bake at 350F for 9-10 minutes or until just done. Allow to cool on the pan for at least 5 minutes to finish cooking internally.
Hint: Chilling the dough is essential to achieving a soft, chewy sourdough snickerdoodle cookie. Be careful to not over-handle the chilled balls of dough when rolling in the cinnamon sugar and chill the dough between batches. (Jump to my "FAQ" section below to see an image comparing chilled vs unchilled snickerdoodles.)
Substitutions
The listed ingredients might not work for everyone. If that's you, that's totally fine! Here are some of my favorite substitutions for this recipe.
- Butter - Use a non-dairy butter like Country Crock's plant butter. This is my tried and true non-dairy butter for baking!
- Note: this butter is salted, so you might want to use a little less salt in the rest of the dough. I normally don't find the need to adjust it when using salted butter, but if you are sensitive to salt, you might want to cut the additional salt in half to start.
Variations
Here are some fun ideas to make this recipe your own!
- Chocolate - Add ¼ of a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the recipe with the dry ingredients.
- More spices - add to or swap out the cinnamon with ½ a teaspoon of nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, allspice, or all of the above!
Looking for other sourdough discard cookies? Try my sourdough chocolate peanut butter cookies, my sourdough oatmeal cookies, and my sourdough peanut butter cookies.
Equipment
Storage
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 7 days. You can freeze sourdough snickerdoodles for up to 6 months; just be sure to thaw them in the fridge to prevent them from getting soggy from condensation.
Top tip
Weigh your ingredients! I can't recommend this enough. Kitchen scales are easy to find, affordable, and beneficial to your baking journey. It is the best way to make sure your recipes turn out as accurate as possible. See my "equipment" section above for links to scales I recommend.
FAQ
Yes! Just use a non-dairy butter in place of the dairy butter. See my "substitutions" section above for my recommended dairy-free butter!
Snickerdoodles tend to spread a lot if they aren't properly chilled. This results in a thin, crispy cookie. Chilling slows the spreading and allows for a thicker, chewy cookie. The image below shows a cookie that was chilled and one that was closer to room temp. 
Related
Looking for other sweet recipes like this? Try these:
The Best Sourdough Snickerdoodle Cookies
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Baking sheets
- Parchment Paper
- Two-tablespoon cookie scoop
Ingredients
Snickerdoodle Cookies
- 1 cup salted butter 2 sticks
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar 300g
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar 67g
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sourdough discard 100g
- 3 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour 390g
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 and ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamom optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy with a paddle attachment.
- Stir down the sides of the bowl and add eggs, sourdough discard, and vanilla extract. Mix until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
- Cover the bowl with a clean, wet tea towel or cling wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour (Ideally 2+).
- Preheat oven to 350F. Mix cinnamon, sugar, and cardamom (optional) in a small bowl. Take cookie dough out of the fridge and use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the dough balls.
- Roll the dough balls in the sugar mixture and place on a prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated oven for 9-10 minutes or until they look just done. You don't want to overbake these.
- Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Notes
- Chilling the dough is essential to achieving a soft, chewy sourdough snickerdoodle cookie. Be careful to not over-handle the chilled balls of dough when rolling in the cinnamon sugar and chill the dough between batches. (Jump to my "FAQ" section to see an image comparing chilled vs unchilled snickerdoodles.)
- Weigh your ingredients! I can't recommend this enough. Kitchen scales are easy to find, affordable, and beneficial to your baking journey. It is the best way to make sure your recipes turn out as accurate as possible. See my "equipment" section above for links to scales I recommend.
- Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 7 days. You can freeze sourdough snickerdoodles for up to 6 months; just be sure to thaw them in the fridge to prevent them from getting soggy from condensation.
Britny Miller says
This recipe was super easy to follow even with five littles running around trying to help. We all enjoyed them & sent them with a few friends to try. They said they were the BEST snickerdoodle cookies they’ve ever had! Thanks for sharing!
Audrey says
Wow, what a compliment! Thank you so much for trying them 🙂
Andrea says
I made these cookies for the first time a week ago for my networking meeting. Holy cow they were a hit! Best snickerdoodle I've ever made.
I want to make these at our cabin, 7300 ft in elevation. Made them at our main home with elevation of only 1100 ft.
Hope they turn out up on the mountain! 🙂