Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles Recipe - Crazy for Crust (2024)

FAQs

Why did my snickerdoodle cookies not flatten? ›

The most common culprit behind non-spreading cookies is too much flour. This may seem counterintuitive—after all, isn't flour a key ingredient in baking? Yes, but if you add too much flour, your cookies won't spread as they bake.

Overbaking often results in dry, crunchy snickerdoodles instead of soft, chewy ones. Make sure to pull the cookies out when they're still slightly underbaked.

Granulated Sugar and Ground Cinnamon: These two are mixed together to create the classic cinnamon-sugar coating that snickerdoodles are known for. The sugar caramelizes slightly as the cookies bake, giving them a slightly crisp exterior.

The cream of tartar is what causes the cookies to puff and rise—without it, your cookies might spread too much and/or be completely flat.

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

Fix the recipe

This can be done by adding milk, cream, or even water. If the dough is still too dry, you may need to add more fat. This can be done by adding butter, margarine, or shortening. Once you've added more moisture and fat, knead the dough until it is smooth and pliable.

Eggs bind the ingredients and make for moist, chewy cookies. Adding too many eggs can result in gummy, cake-like cookies. Adding too few eggs can result in dry, crumbly cookies.

When they're done, the snickerdoodles will be puffed, a parts of the cookie will look set. There will be parts that look a little doughy (the crinkles) and that is a good thing. Every oven is different, but in my oven I cannot bake them more than 10 minutes or they're overdone. Sometimes I pull them out at 8 minutes.

They puff in the oven and then settle back down while cooling into a soft, thick, supremely chewy cookie with a gorgeous crinkly top. They've received nothing but rave reviews!

"When your dough is refrigerated, the butter hardens. So when you bake them, they spread less and hold their shape better," adds Epperson. "Which means a better likelihood of a soft, chewy cookie in the center."

Why did my snickerdoodles come out cakey? ›

Using too much flour will make your cookies too cakey, so try reducing the flour amount by two tablespoons. Avoid using cake flour instead; try a mix of all-purpose flour and bread flour for a more dense and chewy texture.

Cream of tartar is an integral ingredient. It gives the cookies its tangy taste and signature texture. I do not recommend any substitutions on this. If you replaced it with baking powder, you would end up with a puffy, more cake-like sugar cookie.

Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.

Flour adds fluff and texture to the cookies. Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour.

A spread with less fat, diet "margarines" or spreads in tubs contain have too much water. The water creates steam, causing the cookies to puff. Low protein flours, such as cake flour, absorb less water, leaving excess water to create steam, which causes the cookies to puff.