Snickerdoodles

Michael Eisenwasser

Print Recipe

A classic snickerdoodle with a gluten-free flour blend, the traditional cream of tartar tang, and a cinnamon-sugar roll that crackles on top.

Prep 15 min

Cook 11 min

Serves 24

Gluten-free

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 2 3/4 cups (395 g) gluten-free flour blend
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the cinnamon-sugar coating:

• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Makes about 24 cookies. One serving is 1 cookie.

Instructions

Mix the Dough

1. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment.
2. Whisk the flour blend, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each, then beat in the vanilla.
5. Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in two additions, scraping the bowl between each. Stop as soon as no dry flour remains.

Coat and Bake

1. Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a small shallow bowl.
2. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough (about 30 g each) and roll each into a ball. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar until fully coated and place on the prepared sheets, 2 inches apart.
3. Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack for 10 to 11 minutes, rotating the pan halfway. The edges should be set and the tops cracked; the centers will look slightly underdone.
4. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a rack. They firm up as they cool.

Tips & Substitutions

• Don't skip the cream of tartar. It's what gives a snickerdoodle its signature tang and helps the tops crack. Baking powder alone won't produce the same flavor or texture.
• Butter substitute. A 1:1 vegan butter stick (Miyoko's, Earth Balance soy-free) works for dairy-free cookies. Soft coconut oil works too, but the cookies spread more and pick up a coconut note.
• Chill for thicker cookies. Refrigerate the rolled, coated balls for 30 minutes before baking if you want less spread and a chewier center.
• Freeze rolled dough. Roll and coat the balls, freeze solid on a sheet, then bag them. Bake from frozen at 375°F (190°C) for 13 to 14 minutes.
• Use real cinnamon. Ceylon or cassia both work; just make sure it's pure ground cinnamon with no added sweeteners or anti-caking agents that list inulin or chicory root.
• Skip honey-based swaps. Some snickerdoodle recipes call for a drizzle of honey in the dough or coating. Honey is high-FODMAP at any serve, so stick with plain white sugar here.

Why This Works

Cinnamon is a low-FODMAP spice. Monash tests ground cinnamon as low-FODMAP at 1 teaspoon per serve. Two teaspoons split across 24 cookies in the coating works out to a trace per cookie, well under the serve.

Cream of tartar and baking soda are both fine. Cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate, a byproduct of winemaking, and baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Neither contains FODMAPs, and together they give the cookie its lift and tangy bite without relying on buttermilk.

Butter math. Butter is low-FODMAP at 1 tablespoon per serve because it's mostly fat. One cup of butter across 24 cookies is about 2 teaspoons per cookie, which leaves headroom if you eat two.

Sugar isn't a FODMAP. White sugar is sucrose, which is one glucose plus one fructose in a 1:1 ratio. The small intestine absorbs sucrose fully, so table sugar has no FODMAP load at normal baking amounts, though large quantities of sweets can still bother some people with IBS.

GF flour blend holds it together. The gluten-free flour blend already contains xanthan gum, so no extra binder is needed. The rice and starch base keeps the crumb tender without the fructans in wheat.

Storage

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. For longer storage, freeze baked cookies in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months and thaw at room temperature for 20 minutes. Unbaked rolled and coated dough balls freeze just as well and bake straight from the freezer.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.