These healthy snickerdoodle cookies are so soft they could be pillows.
Snickerdoodle cookie pillows.
And then we could have a snickerdoodle pillow fight, with sugary cookie dough flying in every direction. Mmm yes, a snickerdoodle pillow fight. How yummy would that be?!
Sweet and buttery pillow cookies…
I promise the snickerdoodles do not taste healthy. But don’t take my word for it; try them for yourself. My friends couldn’t get enough of these!
Skinny Snickerdoodles
- 3/4 cup ww pastry flour or white flour (See below for notes on a gluten-free option)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt (just under level)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tarter (optional)
- 1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup sugar or sucanat or evaporated cane juice (xylitol might work, but I haven’t tried)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons milk of choice
- 1/4 cup “butter” of choice, such as Earth Balance (I haven’t tried a lower-fat butter sub in this recipe, so I don’t know if that would work.)
Preheat oven to 330 F. Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. In a separate bowl, melt the butter of choice, then stir in vanilla and milk. Pour dry into wet and mix again. Form balls. For true snickerdoodles, roll each ball in a mix of cinnamon and sugar (either equal parts OR two parts sugar to one part cinnamon, depending on how cinnamon-y you want your cookies). If you want soft cookies, you’ll need to get the balls very cold. (So roll the balls, cover in the cinnamon-sugar, then fridge until cold.) Cook for 9-10 minutes. They’ll look way underdone when you take them out, but that’s ok.
I haven’t tried these with a gf mix, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. (Edit: if you read the comments, many commenters have successfully tried different gf versions.) In the meantime…
These are gluten-free: Snickerdoodle Blondies.
As for the vegan snickerdoodles: they will keep at least four days, in a lidded plastic container. (As a general rule, you should store soft cookies in plastic containers and crispy cookies in glass ones.)
Link Of The Day:
Hi Katie! I’m making cookies for Valentine’s Day, but I don’t have enough time to make the dough and bake the cookies the day before. Is it okay to make the dough a few days before and freeze it, then pop them in the oven?
Thanks!
I adapted this to be “nearly” sugar free! I made these with “brown sugar”, using with 1 cup Lakanto (monk fruit/erythritol blend), 2 tsp blackstrap molasses and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. I mixed/mashed out the lumps with a fork. I then subbed this brown sugar in place of the sugar in the mix, and used it as the mix for the sugar topping too by adding 1 tbsp of cinnamon to 2 tbsp of the brown sugar.
They’re “nearly sugar free” but the molasses is so critical to achieve that rich taste you expect with a snickerdoodle cookie. And at least blackstrap molasses is high in potassium and other good stuff. Portion control is key, since it is a sugar (especially for diabetics).
Thank you for an amazing recipe! 🙂
Yum! My husband turned to me tonight and I could tell he had one thing on his mind…. snickerdoodles. Seriously. It’s one of those recipes that is kind of hard to lighten up but I think you did it. Must try!
You know what is so great about all of your cookie recipes that I have tried so far……..they are small batch and require minimum work and usually no eggs! I love it! Great for a quick after school snack for my kids, who are always cookie monsters!! Thank you so much!
I doubled the recipe and I got 19 1″ balls, I dunked them right into the cinnamon sugar mixture (double sugar to cinnamon) and refrigerated them for about an hour. It took 12 minutes for the cookies to bake and it smelled like heaven in my kitchen. They came out fantastic and just so soft and amazing. I especially enjoyed tasting the batter without worrying about raw eggs. FYI – I used butter, unsweetened silk almond milk, sugar and no cream of tartar. I have some cinnamon sugar left over so I’ll be making these again soon. I do wonder if it’s okay to use olive, canola, coconut oil etc instead of butter or earth balance?
Thanks for your awesome recipes, I am a frequent visitor and I have made many other of your fantastic creations.
It is!
https://lett-trim.today/2012/12/02/cream-cheese-stuffed-cinnamon-sugar-pillow-cookies/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Pinned. They look amazing and just what I had in mind.
Thank you.
These cookies are DELICIOUS. So fluffy and buttery! I doubled the recipe to make bigger cookies and everyone loved them! I’m definitely making these again. Thanks for the awesome recipe Katie!
I made these last night and they were PEFECT! I did as you said and refrigerated them for about 30 minutes before baking and the texture and flavor were both unbelievable. Thank you!
On today’s quiet Sunday afternoon, I wanted to bake a quick, scrumptious dessert for my family. Katie’s Snickerdoodles inspired them all when the time arrived for an after-dinner snack. ^.^ These are, surprisingly, the first snickerdoodles I’ve made, and to say they are pillow-like is *perfect.* I love these cookies and will pass this recipe on to anyone looking for a cookie.
Yay!
I am by no means a master baker (haha say that 10 times fast) and I made multiple mistakes like: adding in the amount of vanilla I should have of milk, and I wasn’t sure if the butter measurement was after or before it was melted so I just did some where in between, also forgot to smoosh them before I put them in the oven. BUT they actually turned out really yummy!!! I’m quite impressed with myself and this site. I like how they don’t taste overly sugary
How do you think it taste?