Snickerdoodles are classic cookies for a reason: they’re soft and chewy, rich and buttery and have perfect crispy edges. Rolling them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar gives them their signature look and taste. Make them in their classic puffy shape or form them into sweet bunny faces. Either way, they’re super delicious!
My recipe comes straight out of my great grandmother’s cookbook and, like banana bread, her snickerdoodle recipe will always be my go-to. There’s something about baking my great grandmother’s recipes that makes me feel good.
Baking these snickerdoodles into bunny shapes also makes me feel good! It’s a chance to be creative and who doesn’t like making something cute. The child and elementary school teacher in me definitely came out while making these!
SNICKERDOODLE INGREDIENTS
You’ll most likely have all the ingredients you need for snickerdoodles. The only thing you may not have on hand is cream of tartar. Cream of tartar gives snickerdoodles a slightly tangy flavor and their chewy texture.
CINNAMON SUGAR
In addition to cream of tartar, the other signature flavor of snickerdoodles is cinnamon sugar. After the dough is chilled, it’s shaped into little balls and gets tossed in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. The color of the cinnamon coating gives the flavor of the cookies away and is so amazing to bite into!
SNICKERDOODLE BUNNY COOKIES
The only thing that could make these classic cookies sweeter, would be to bake them into bunny shapes or teddy bear shapes! I recently saw Half Baked Harvest share her recipe for Sweet and Salty Teddy Bear Snickerdoodles in her Instagram stories! I thought they were so cute and it gave me the idea to bake my snickerdoodle recipe into bunny shapes! So glad I tried because they turned out so happy looking and adorable!
BUNNY SHAPES
The good news is that you can use the same dough to make classic snickerdoodles or to make bunny snickerdoodles. The only difference is how you shape the dough. Once you mix the dough together and chill it for at least a half hour, you can take it out and form them into balls or bunnies.
To form them into bunnies, you’ll need to scoop out about a tablespoon of dough for each head and about a half a tablespoon for each ear. Tieghan from Half Baked Harvest recommends measuring out and forming the dough balls before assembling them and I agree it’s definitely a time saver doing it that way.
Form about half the dough into the tablespoon sized balls and make the rest of the dough into half a tablesoon sized balls. For the tablespoons, flatten them with your palm into circles a little over two inches in size. For the ears, take two 1/2 tablespoon balls and shape the dough into cylinder shapes. Do this by rolling the dough between your palms. Apply more pressure to one end so that one end is fatter/wider and one is thinner (see picture above).
GENTLY coat the head and ears in the cinnamon sugar and place them on the baking sheet as seen in the picture above. You don’t need to attach the ears to the head. Just place them on the head and they will stick together as they bake. Try to place the ears at least an inch apart and aim them to face more upwards instead of outwards. I did some facing outwards and they looked a little like mice!
BAKING AND DECORATING THE COOKIES
Bake the cookies as directed and allow to cool before decorating. You can definitely use icing to decorate these if you want a color other than white or brown. I went for white and brown because I liked the idea of chocolate and I wanted them to be a bit more rustic looking since they have that crackly, dusted snickerdoodle look to them. For colorful icing, I prefer to use a base of sugar cookies. I’m sure they’d be cute with whatever topping you used though!
CHOCOLATE
Use white, dark, semi sweet or milk chocolate to decorate your bunny heads! Use the pictures for examples, use your imagination, or look up pictures or cartoons of rabbits for inspiration! The whole point is to have fun, relax, and create something cute AND delicious!
To melt the chocolate, break or chop the chocolate into same size pieces. Use the 50% power setting on my microwave and melt the chocolate in 25 second intervals. Make sure to stir between each interval and only melt the chocolate until it’s about 80% melted. It’ll melt some more each time you stir it and will continue to melt at room temperature.
Spoon your melted chocolate into zip lock bags. I like to set my bag in a one cup measuring cup and fold the edges of the bag over the cup. This makes it easier to pour or scoop the chocolate into the bag. Use scissors to snip the very end of one of the corners of the bag and use that for decorating. If the hole is too small, snip a bit more off.
MAKING THESE WITH KIDS
These cookies are definitely for kids or the kids in all of us! They are super fun to make! Rolling the balls will keep busy and give them a fun end goal of decorating, baking and eating these cute bunny cookies!
Kids can definitely help make the batter and roll and shape the heads. They will most likely need help or some modeling with forming the ears. Just remember they’re meant to be cute and rustic, so the “mistakes” really do add to their charm!
According to my husband, “those cinnamon cookies” disappeared faster than anything else he’s brought to work with him! I hope this recipe will become your go-to snickerdoodle recipe too! They’re easy to make and are definitely different than any other cookie! Make them in their classic round shape or add some ears and melted chocolate for the cutest bunny cookies! Either way, you’ll love them!
FOR MORE EASY, DELICIOUS COOKIE RECIPES, MAKE MY:
- Lemon Sour Cream Cookies
- Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies with Mini Chocolate Chips
Snickerdoodles
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 5 Dozen 1x
- Category: Cookies
Description
This classic recipe for Snickerdoodle Cookies makes super soft, buttery cookies coated with cinnamon and sugar. They’re easy to make and are the best Snickerdoodles you’ll ever have!
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
- 2 tsp cream of tarter
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS IF MAKING BUNNY COOKIES
- Semi sweet, milk, or dark chocolate, melted
- White chocolate, melted
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS FOR REGULAR SNICKERDOODLES
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tarter, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until well combined (about 2 minutes). Mix in the eggs and mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture gradually and mix until just combined. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.
4. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon.
5. Take the dough out of the fridge and scoop out about 1 tablespoon per cookie. Roll each cookie into a ball and then roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake 9-11 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
FOR BUNNY COOKIES
FOLLOW STEPS 1-4 FROM ABOVE.
5. Next, take dough out of fridge and form dough into 1 tablespoon sized balls for the heads. Flatten the ball with your palm then coat it in the cinnamon-sugar topping. Gently place the head on the baking sheet.
6. For the ears, use about 1/2 tablespoon of dough per ear. Roll the dough between your palms to form cylinder shapes. Make sure to make one end thinner so that they resemble rabbit ears. Gently roll the ears in the cinnamon-sugar then place them above the head so they are just touching the head. Place the more narrow end on the bottom closest to the head. No need to push them or attach them since they will stick together as they bake. Leave about 1 inch between the ears and point them straight up.
7. Bake them on a cookie tray 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.
8. To decorate the bunnies, pour the melted chocolate into a zip lock bag and snip the very end with scissors. Really just snip it and test it out first. You can always cut the end more if needed. Feel free to fill in the ears, give the bunnies whiskers, use all white or all dark chocolate. Use the pictures above as examples or look up images of bunnies or cartoon bunnies for other decorating ideas! Let chocolate dry for about an hour or eat them as is!
Keywords: Snickerdoodles, Cookies
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