Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Cream of tartar is the key ingredient to developing that tangy taste, chewy texture, and distinct craggly surface of the classic snickerdoodle.  The tartar’s acid gives snickerdoodles their distinctive tangy flavor, and the chewiness is achieved because the cream of tartar prevents sugar in the cookie dough from crystalizing into crunchiness. Lastly, the combination of the cream of tartar and baking soda helps leaven the cookies so they’re thick and fluffy. 

Cream of tartar is a dry, powdery, acidic byproduct of fermenting grapes into wine.  It’s what separates a tangy, chewy snickerdoodle from a run-of-the mill cinnamon-coated sugar cookie.  You can omit it if you must, but the final taste and texture won’t quite be the same (see below).

If you want to make snickerdoodles without cream of tartar, you can substitute the cream of tartar AND the baking soda with 2 teaspoons of baking powder which has both cream of tartar and baking soda in it.  The only difference is that a classic snickerdoodle recipe has more cream of tartar than baking soda so you will lose a bit of that tangy flavor if you use just baking powder.  

There are 6 important elements in preventing flat snickerdoodles:

1. Most importantly, make sure your leaveners are fresh!  Both the baking soda and cream of tartar need to be fresh, otherwise, you are doomed for flat cookies.  To test the cream of tartar, add a pinch to a bowl of hot water. If the water slightly fizzes, then you’re good to go, if it stays flat, then it needs to be replaced.  To test the baking soda, add a pinch to a bowl, followed by a splash of vinegar. If it doesn’t fizz, your baking soda needs to be replaced.
2. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour. 
3. Bake the cookies immediately after rolling, or place the rolled balls back in the refrigerator to chill again.
4. Don’t overbake. 
5. Calibrate your oven.  If your oven is not calibrated correctly, it might be baking at a lower temperature than intended. Try increasing your temperature by 25 degrees which will help set the snickerdoodles before they spread too far. 
6. Lastly, if there isn’t enough flour to hold the butter as it melts, the cookies will over-spread. So, if you’ve followed the above steps and your cookies are still spreading, try adding an extra 2 tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough.

Dry snickerdoodles are usually the result of overbaking.  You should NOT pull your cookies out when they’re set and crispy. It’s best to slightly under bake the cookies, then let them finish cooking/firm up on the baking sheet after they’re removed from the oven.  Another culprit could be that there isn’t enough fat in the dough.  Either the recipe itself didn’t call for enough fat (this recipe is perfect) or it was just measured incorrectly.

No, you should not flatten the snickerdoodles before baking or they will spread out too much as the butter melts and become flat instead of thick and chewy.

Make sure to mix the dough sufficiently until light and creamy.  This gives lift to the cookies and will cause them to rise and fall, creating those beautiful cracks.

The term snickerdoodle is based off the German word Schneckennudel, a German pastry, which literally translates as “snail pasta.” A Schneckennudel is a yeast dough roll that resembles a cinnamon roll, so perhaps the term snickerdoodle cookie is a nod to the cinnamon laden pastry.

While the exact origin is unclear, the snickerdoodles is believed to be invented in 891 by Cornelia Campbell Bedford. The New York cooking teacher and newspaper writer had been working on a recipe for the Cleveland Baking Powder company when she came up with a sugar cookie covered in sugar and cinnamon.

Snickerdoodles are rolled in cinnamon/sugar before they are baked.  Additionally, snickerdoodle dough contains cream of tartar which gives snickerdoodles their iconic slightly tangy flavor, thick chewiness and craggly surface.