Crumbl Snickerdoodle Recipe: Thick, Soft Cinnamon Sugar Copycat

Crumbl calls its Snickerdoodle Cookie “a vanilla sugar cookie rolled in a sparkly cinnamon sugar coating.” What sets the bakery version apart from the thin, crisp snickerdoodles in many family cookbooks is size and texture: it is tall, soft, and almost fudgy in the middle, with a thick crust of cinnamon sugar that crackles as it bakes.

The defining ingredient is cream of tartar. It gives snickerdoodles their mild tang and their pillowy texture, and it is the difference between a snickerdoodle and a sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon. This copycat keeps all of that and scales it up to bakery size. For the other cinnamon cookie on the Crumbl menu, the frosted one, see our copycat Crumbl churro cookie.

About cream of tartar

Cream of tartar is a powdered acid sold in the spice aisle. Two teaspoons may look like a lot, but that is the classic snickerdoodle ratio with one teaspoon of baking soda. Together they make carbon dioxide for lift, and the leftover acid is what you taste as tang.

A little brown sugar

Traditional snickerdoodles use only white sugar. This copycat adds a quarter cup of brown sugar for a softer, moister center that stays tender for a few days, closer to the bakery texture.

1. Whisk the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
2. Cream butter and sugars. Beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
4. Make the dough. Mix in the dry ingredients on low until no dry flour remains.
5. Portion and chill. Scoop 10 portions of about 105 g, roll into smooth balls, and chill 45 minutes.
6. Roll in cinnamon sugar. Stir the sugar and cinnamon together and roll each cold dough ball until it is fully coated. Roll a second time for a thicker crust.
7. Bake. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops crack and the edges set but the centers still look puffy and soft.
8. Rest on the pan. Cool 10 minutes on the sheet; the centers will sink slightly and turn fudgy.

Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar, set it on the sheet, then roll it once more just before it goes in the oven. The second coat dissolves slightly into the first and bakes into the thick, sparkly crust that is the best part of the cookie.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies are done when the tops have cracked and the edges are set, but the centers still look puffy and a little underdone. They will sink slightly as they cool, and that is what gives the fudgy middle. For 60 g cookies, bake 8 to 9 minutes.

Acid keeps it pale and soft. Cream of tartar lowers the dough’s pH, which slows browning and keeps the cookie light in color. It also interferes with sugar crystallization, so the cookie stays soft instead of turning crisp as it cools.

Cold dough, tall cookie. A 45-minute chill firms the butter so the cookie rises before it spreads. Rolling cold dough also keeps the coating even.

Cornstarch and underbaking. The tablespoon of cornstarch makes the crumb more tender, and pulling the cookies early leaves the centers soft. The same principles run through every recipe on our homemade Crumbl cookies hub.

Use a ratio of about 8 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon by weight: 1/3 cup of sugar to 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. More cinnamon tastes dusty and can make the crust look muddy. For extra sparkle, replace a third of the granulated sugar with coarse sanding sugar. Whatever is left over keeps in a jar for cinnamon toast or for dusting frosted cookies.

• Brown butter snickerdoodles: brown and re-chill the butter for a nutty, toffee-like cookie.
• Pumpkin spice: replace half the cinnamon in the coating with pumpkin pie spice.
• Cookie butter center: wrap the dough around a frozen teaspoon of cookie butter.
• Frosted: add a cinnamon buttercream swirl and you have a churro-style cookie.

Keep snickerdoodles in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. A slice of sandwich bread in the container keeps them soft. Baked cookies freeze for 2 months. You can also freeze uncoated dough balls for 3 months; roll them in cinnamon sugar while still frozen and bake 1 to 2 minutes longer.

The bakery figures are copied from Crumbl’s official profile (checked 2026-10-21) and sit on our Crumbl Snickerdoodle Cookie page. The homemade number is an estimate: we added up standard calorie values for every gram in the ingredient list and divided by 10 cookies, so a bigger or smaller scoop changes it. With no frosting, a snickerdoodle is one of the lighter Crumbl-style cookies to make at home. The bakery version’s full nutrition panel, alongside other flavors, is on the Crumbl cookie nutrition guide.

Prefer a frosted vanilla cookie instead? Try the Crumbl sugar cookie copycat.