Crispy edges, chewy centers, and yummy cinnamon flavor makes these gluten-free snickerdoodles a delicious treat to enjoy fall, winter and really, year-round.
Cooler weather, turning leaves, the smells of autumn… I’m dreaming of those things being here soon. We’re still having high temps in the 80s and 90s but I’m ready to pack up swimsuits and summer clothes, put out the fall decorations, and fill my house with baked goods that smell of cinnamon. These gluten-free cinnamon sugar Snickerdoodles were the first on my fall baking list and I had to make them right away, despite the hot weather!
I’ve been making this recipe for several years, so it is my tried and true recipe. I made these last week for my boys to take to their new teachers for meet the teacher night. I shared the photo on Instagram, which reminds me, are you on Instagram? I often post photos of breakfast, lunches, things I’m baking, and a few family pics too. You can follow me on Instagram here. I’m pretty addicted to it and love interacting with gluten-free friends on there.
Back to these cookies… I prefer the results when I have time to chill the dough at least an hour, versus using right away. One helpful thing about this dough is that you can make it ahead and let it sit in your fridge for up to 2 days! I love recipes that I can make in steps so I can work on them a bit as I have time. Last month, I made a batch of this dough and then only cooked up a cookie sheet full each day for 3 days so we could enjoy them warm each day!
I’d love if you would comment if you have a chance to try these! I hope they satisfy your craving!
Gluten-free Snickerdoodles Recipe:
Gluten-free Snickerdoodles
Crispy edges, chewy centers, and yummy cinnamon flavor makes these gluten-free snickerdoodles a delicious treat to enjoy fall, winter and really, year-round.
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cup (345 grams) good all-purpose gluten-free flour
- 3/4 tsp.xanthan gum
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1/2 cup butter or dairy-free alternative, softened
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
for rolling:
- 2 Tbsp. white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum (if needed), cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of your standing mixer, beat the sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla and eggs until well mixed.
- Dump the bowl of dry ingredients into your mixing bowl and mix on low until all combined.
- Cover the dough and place in fridge to chill for one hour or up to 2 days.
- When ready to use, remove from fridge to soften until you can roll easily.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 Tablespoons sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon together.
- Roll dough into about 1 inch balls, or your desired size.
- Roll dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart on parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets.
- Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. For crispier cookies, cook longer; for chewier cookies, remove while cracks look just a bit "wet" still, but edges are set.
- Slide cookies off onto a cooling rack. I just slide the whole sheet of parchment right off so I don't have to worry about cracking any cookies.
Notes
As always, be sure to double-check your ingredients for gluten. Feel free to try this with your preferred gluten-free flour blend, but I only guarantee a delicious, non-gritty result if you use one of the flours I recommend! I almost always make these with gfJules flour.
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Stacy says
Do you know how many grams 2 3/4 of Jules’ flour is?
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
Stacy, I just went and measured that out and weighed it, and it is 345 grams. Hope that helps! I’ll add it to the recipe too!
Sharron says
Lovely. Jules flour is not available here in Ireland, so I used Doves Farm gluten & wheat free it contains the Xantham gum for anyone trying them here.
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
Sharron,
Thanks for commenting and letting us know what flour blend worked well for you. I’m so glad you got to make these and enjoy them!
Jacqui says
Hi Michelle,
Any idea if egg replacer would work in this recipe or suggestions for a specific egg replacer?
Thanks!
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
Jacqui,
I haven’t tried this with any egg replacer. If you have a favorite egg replacer that works well in cookie recipes, just give it a try here!
Jennifer says
For people like me, who are too impatient to chill dough, the cookies will still come out tasty. They will be extremely flat, but they aren’t too crunchy or anything. Yum! Just sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over top before cooking.
Also, you can cook some of the dough without chilling, put the rest in the fridge and cook it up properly later.
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
Jennifer, So glad you liked them. Great tips too! Thanks for sharing!
crystal says
hey instead of gluten free flour, can you just use regular all purpose flour? is xanthan gum essential in this?
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
Crystal,
The xanthan gum is only essential when using gluten-free flour. You can use your regular all-purpose flour in place of the gf flour in this recipe and omit the xanthan gum. Enjoy!
crystal says
sorry to bother you again last time i promise xD would coconut oil be a good substitute for the butter- if so how much would i need?
Angela says
Oh my!!! I can’t thank you enough!!! Can’t wait to try these…my favorite cookie…although we called them Roly Polies when I was growing up
Jordan says
It tasted like a REAL snickerdoodle cookie! I substituted cream of tartar for baking powder, and I used Bob Mills gluten free all purpose baking flour. Loved the cookies! Thank you!
Helen says
Did you have to use the xantham gum if use all gf all purpose flour?
Carrie Doll says
what is the final texture supposed be like? I doubled the recipe and it looks like corn meal.
Michelle Palin ~ My Gluten-free Kitchen says
Carrie, Eeek! Shouldn’t be like corn meal at all. I’d double-check that you got all the ingredients in the exact amount and that you used a good all-purpose gluten-free flour. The dough should be just like the smooth cookie dough batter you remember from before!
Lauren says
These are some of the most beautiful GF cookies I’ve made. My dough was chilled for 2 hours and the cookies stayed nice and puffy all through cooling. A bit sticky to roll into balls, but I managed that by putting a little potato starch on mt palms every couple cookies. Also, they weren’t fragile to transfer to cooling racks. I did use parchment paper, but I took them off when they were still pretty warm. I used my own flour blend with millet, sweet rice, and potato starch. Only improvement I’d make would be to see if I could get them to be a little less “cakey” next time. But I like doughier cookies.
Jessie Judge says
I’m kind if new to the GF life style, doing it to help improve my over all health and to tame my autoimmune disorders. Your site is a blessing! I love that you have incorporated so many “real life” recipes into a GF version! Thank you so much. My only question is, you mentioned that these can be refrigerated for up to two days. Can GF batters, like cookie doughs, be frozen for future use?
Thanks for your help!
Jess says
Hi there, I’ve been cooking and baking gluten free for a few years now (my boyfriend is gluten and dairy free- by need not want). We’re having company tonight and I wanted to try something different.
When I made these cookies I used Earth Balance margarine and Robin Hood Nutri gluten free all purpose flour. The rest was as you said. My dough before chilling looked heavy and crumbly, like it needed more fat. I chilled for an hour and a half and it stayed about the sane, maybe a little more dense.
I baked for 8mins to test. they stayedfirn balls and didnt flatten out. So I kept them in for 2more mins and they eventually started to crack but again didnt flatten much.
I nice cooled I tested one and am dissapoibted there isn’t much flavour to them.
Might make these again but with alterations.
Kaitlin says
I made these last night using Pillsbury’s GF flour and Baking Powder instead of the Cream of Tartar. They didn’t flatten at all and I decided not to refrigerate them. They were absolutely delicious!! Tasted exactly like non-gluten free snickerdoodles from my childhood. Thank you for this brilliant recipe
Jonah Ferdman-Hayden says
What happens i you don’t use xanthan/guar gum at all?
Heather says
These were so good! My 4 yr old has celiac and loved being able to eat these cookies. One tip I have is we had to flatten the dough after we rolled them because they didn’t spread put very much but these tasted like regular snickerdoodles.
Nicola Wallace says
Wow these are delicious! I didn’t have any cream of tartar so I was going to replace it with lemon juice, but I forgot to add it in! They turned out really well without it, maybe a little puffy but looks aren’t important when they’re this tasty ????
Cheryll says
Tried these with a different GF mix and they turned out great. I was in a hurry so I didn’t chill them but didn’t have a problem. Used Earth Balance instead of butter. Used Xylitol instead of sugar. At first I was disappointed as they didn’t flatten out, stayed balls, and were thick and Cakey. But the next day I tried one and wow, nice subtle crunch on outside and soft inside, a real snickerdoodle taste. Next time I will just flatten them out a bit with a fork before baking. Thanks for a great cookie recipe!
Gary says
If I have to refrigerate the dough for 1 to 48 hours, why is the first instruction to preheat oven?!
Kimberly says
Bless you for this recipe! My husband was diagnosed with celiac 5 years ago and hasn’t had a snickerdoodle cookie since then… until now! Delicious!
Shirley says
Just made these and they are very good. I used Bob’s Red Mill gf baking flour and added tiny cinnamon chips to the dough. I kept them in the refrigerator for 24 hrs. 1st pan I flatten them a little before baking and they look just like the ones I used to make before having to go gf. 2nd pan didn’t flatten and they were. A little puffier, but same great taste. I froze some of the dough to see how it will work out. Thanks for sharing the recipe.