Recipe: Clementine Orange Snickerdoodles | Cooking On the Side (2024)

FAQs

Why are my snickerdoodles spreading so much? ›

“Baking cookies in a too-cool oven will cause the fat to melt before your cookies set up, leading to spreading,” Dawn says. Grab an oven thermometer the next time you're in the grocery store so you can be sure your oven is at the correct temperature.

How do you know when the cookies are baked? The snickerdoodle cookies will only take about 10 to 12 minutes to bake, so be sure to keep your eye on them! It's best to rotate the cookies after about 6 minutes so that the cook evenly. The cookies are done when the edges are just set and the centres are soft and cracked.

If yours aren't cracking, your oven may not be hot enough or your ingredients may not be fresh enough! Are snickerdoodles supposed to be undercooked? I always recommend slightly underbaking your cookies and then letting them finish baking through cooling on the pan.

If your cookies come out flat on top, with a cake-like texture, you've added too many eggs.

Chill the cookie dough.

Chilling cookie dough helps prevent spreading. The colder the dough, the less the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. You'll have thicker, sturdier, and more solid cookies. Whenever I make cookies, I plan ahead and chill the cookie dough overnight.

Oven Is Not Hot Enough

Cookies spread while baking because the fats in the dough melt. If your oven isn't set to a high enough temperature, this won't happen. Make sure that your oven has preheated to the appropriate temperature before baking.

If you reduce the amount of butter or oil in a recipe, your cookies won't spread as much. If you add too much flour, your cookies won't spread as much. If your cookies have more brown sugar than white sugar, they won't spread as much. It's a careful balance.

Refrigerating snickerdoodle dough lets the butter resolidify and prevents the cookies from flattening out in the oven. I recommend giving the dough at least 45-60 minutes of chilling time in the fridge before baking.

Snickerdoodles might turn out hard if they are overbaked or if the dough is too dry.

I believe baking with chilled dough was key in preventing the cookies from spreading. I should mention that I took the snickerdoodle dough out of the refrigerator while the oven preheated. So, even though the chilled dough warmed up a bit before baking, the cookies still stood up well.

What can I substitute for cream of tartar in snickerdoodles? ›

You can either replace cream of tartar with baking powder at a 1:1.5 ratio (1 teaspoon cream of tartar : 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder), or you can replace cream of tartar with the combination of baking soda and either lemon juice or vinegar (as with this recipe).

Because cream of tartar is slightly more acidic than baking powder, it gives the cookies a slight sour-flavored tang unique to snickerdoodles.

Over-measuring flour: If you use too much flour in your cookie dough, it can result in a dry, floury taste. Make sure you measure your flour correctly by using a kitchen scale or by spooning the flour into a measuring cup and leveling it off with a knife.

The addition of cinnamon is the clear distinguishing factor between snickerdoodles and sugar cookies. But snickerdoodles don't have to be all about one spice. More than anything, they have the flavor of warm spices, which opens them up to other ingredient inclusions that don't make them any less of a snickerdoodle.

If you reduce the amount of butter or oil in a recipe, your cookies won't spread as much. If you add too much flour, your cookies won't spread as much. If your cookies have more brown sugar than white sugar, they won't spread as much. It's a careful balance.

Excess Sugar and Fat

Measuring is key in baking. If your cookie contains excess sugar or fat, it will spread while baking. If your first batch of cookies spreads, try adding a few tablespoons of flour to help thicken the remaining dough.

It could be too much sugar (sugar turns to liquid when heated), or too much fat. Most cookie doughs require 4 hours of chilling in the refrigerator before baking. This helps decrease the amount of spreading.