If you’re looking for a holiday treat to make this year, try these dairy free snickerdoodle cookies. It’s got all the classic elements of a snickerdoodle – the sugar-cookie-like base combined with slight tanginess and aromatic cinnamon. Plus, this recipe is very easy to make with minimal specialty ingredients.
How to Make Them
Here’s a list of the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe – as you can see, it’s almost all standard pantry staples:
- Dairy-free butter – I used Country Crock plant butter sticks with avocado oil, but Earth Balance also works well!
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- All-purpose flour
- Cream of tartar – Sounds odd, but this is what gives snickerdoodle cookies their classic tangy flavor. (And despite it’s name, the “cream” in cream of tartar is not dairy.)
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
The full recipe amounts and instructions are at the bottom of this post in the recipe card – but here’s a quick overview with some helpful tips and pictures.
You’re going to start by creaming together your butter and sugar and until the mixture is all light and fluffy. I like to use a stand mixer to do this because it does it quite quickly.
After that, you’ll add your eggs and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients – flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
I know a lot of people prefer mixing the dry ingredients separately first, which is generally best practice in the culinary world. But I’ve found that if I just pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients in the bowl, give the dry stuff a few stirs on top first, then mix it in – it saves me the step of dirtying an extra bowl and works just fine. 😉
Now that the dough is all ready, you want to chill it first. This helps make it easier to roll heaping tablespoons into balls and then go about the next step – rolling in cinnamon sugar. (Chilling also ensures the proper texture upon baking).
Next, it’s time to bake! Even though you’re placing the balls on the cookie sheet, know that they will flatten out into a thin, chewy, snickerdoodle when baked – as you can see below. Let them cool and then enjoy!
Recipe FAQ
Here are some common questions that may come up regarding this dairy free snickerdoodle cookie recipe:
What is cream of tartar? This is a dry white powder that’s found in the spice section at the grocery store. It’s true name is potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate or tartaric acid. In addition to adding a tang to snickerdoodles, it also helps prevent sugar crystals from binding together to keep the cookie chewier.
What can I use as a substitute for cream of tartar in snickerdoodles? If you don’t have any cream of tartar on hand, I’d recommend grabbing some at the store for the classic flavor. But it is possible to make a modified version of the cookie without it. In this case, skip the cream of tartar and the baking soda in the recipe, and instead use 1 teaspoon baking powder and 2 teaspoons lemon juice.
How should you store these cookies? Store them at room temperature for up to a week.
Can you freeze the dough? Yes. If you’re going to freeze, I recommend rolling the cookie dough balls in the cinnamon and sugar, placing them on a baking sheet, and then freezing for a couple hours like that. Then take the individual dough balls and toss them into a freezer-safe bag, and put it back in the freezer. This ensures they don’t stick together and you can remove as many as you’d like at any one time to bake later. They can be baked directly from frozen; the may just need an extra couple minutes in the oven.
Allergens in this recipe
Disclaimer: Always double check ingredients and labels yourself for allergens prior to making a recipe. While I try to check all ingredients for allergens, there’s always the chance I may miss something or manufacturer formulations can change.
This recipe is dairy free and nut free.
This recipe may contain soy, depending on the type of dairy-free butter you’re using. Even though the Country Crock plant butter sticks with avocado oil don’t have overt soy ingredients, they do have a bolded warning that they may contain soy, so if you’re highly allergic it may be best to avoid that. If you’d like it to definitely be soy free, I recommend using soy-free Earth Balance (in the red container).
This recipe does contain wheat/gluten and eggs. I have not tested any substitutions for these at this point. The eggs provide a lot of structure for this cookie and I’m not sure the recipe would work without them, but you are welcome to try a substitute like a flax egg and keep us posted on how it works.
I hope you love these snickerdoodle cookies! They’re a great recipe to make for Santa during the holidays, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t bake these and enjoy ‘em all year long. If you get a chance to try them, please feel free to leave a recipe rating or comment below.
PS – If you’re looking for more holiday dessert recipes, try our dairy free molasses cookies for the kiddos, and our dairy free coquito for the grown ups!
Dairy Free Snickerdoodle Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 1 cup dairy-free butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
For rolling:
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
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In a large mixing bowl, cream together the dairy-free butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs and vanilla until well combined.
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Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt to the bowl, then stir everything together to mix well.
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Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
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Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare three baking sheets with parchment paper. Also, in a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon that you’ll use for rolling.
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When the chill time is up, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Take heaping tablespoons of dough, roll into a ball, and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets.
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Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are flat and cooked through. Let cool then enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition analysis (approximate per cookie): 122 calories, 5.5 g fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 100 mg sodium, 17.5 g carbohydrate, 0.5 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 1.5 g protein, Vitamin D: 0%, Calcium: 0%, Iron: 3%, Potassium: 1%
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