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Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies

Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies are puffy chewy little cookie bites that are a hit on any cookie tray. The small size is great for sampling and snacking–and they are adorable too. Great for a holiday cookie tray. I use a mini scoop to make these quick and easy. They are a favorite recipe around our house!

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A stack of mini snickerdoodle cookies on a plate with the words, "Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies".

After wrapping up my post on Giant Snickerdoodle Cookies, I decided to go the other direction and make tiny cookies. I think making cookies a bit smaller is always appreciated around the holidays (treats are everywhere!), but mini cookies make great snacks and lunchbox treats too.

These sweet snickerdoodles taste just like the classic recipe, but I’ve used a mini cookie scoop to make small 1.5″ cookies that are adorable and snack-worthy.

A small plate of snickerdoodle cookies and metal measuring spoons.

Supplies for Baking Mini Cookies

If you don’t bake often, it’s worth spending some time to make sure your kitchen has everything you will need. Read through your recipe for any specifics, but there are a few must-haves for every baker.

I personally love my hand mixer for quickly creaming together butter and sugar. Good sturdy cookie sheets (I line mine with parchment paper) are essential too. A cooling rack allows cookies to cool completely without continuing to cook (if you were to just leave them on the baking sheet for instance).

A kitchen scale is helpful for getting quantities right every time. It’s far more accurate that measuring cups and saves washing up the measuring cups as you bake too!

For mini cookies, I like this 1.5 teaspoon scoop. It can be used for many things, but it’s great for scooping soft cookie doughs into mini cookies. The scoop makes it really quick to get uniform cookies.

Cookie storage boxes are also really helpful. I purchase these inexpensive generic boxes from Target and they are a great size. Very handy for storing cookies around the holidays.

I could go on and go, but those are a few of my definite must-haves!

Three Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Easy to bake! It’s hard to mess up a basic snickerdoodle recipe like this one. All you need to do is prepare a simple cookie dough, chill it, and roll the cookies in cinnamon sugar before baking.
  • Great for holiday parties. These mini cookies will be appreciated where sweets abound.
  • Perfectly soft and chewy cookies. The combo of shortening and butter here works to create soft and chewy cookies–irresistible!

Ingredients You Will Need

Labeled ingredients for Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies: sugar, flour, ground cinnamon, cream of tartar, baking soda & salt, vanilla extract, shortening, butter, and egg.

Ground Cinnamon – used in the cinnamon sugar coating.

Sugar – granulated sugar is used in the cookie dough and for the cinnamon sugar coating.

Unsalted Butter – I always use unsalted butter when baking. Soften the butter in advance of baking so it’s easy to cream together with the sugar.

Vegetable Shortening – This recipe uses Crisco Shortening Sticks (found in the baking aisle) in place of half the butter. The combination of shortening and butter yields perfectly soft and chewy cookies–without overspreading.

Egg – pull the egg out of the fridge before you start baking so it’s close to room temp by the time you add it into the cookie dough for the best results.

Vanilla Extract – I use a bit of vanilla extract in my recipe for extra depth of flavor.

All-Purpose Flour – I use all-purpose unbleached flour for my cookie recipes. Measuring flour accurately is very important for the final taste and texture of the cookies. 

Cream of Tartar – find this ingredient in the baking aisle if you don’t already have it on hand. Learn more about cream of tartar in my Crumbl Snickerdoodle Cookie post.

Baking Soda – a leavening agent that reacts with the cream of tartar and creates chewy yet soft cookies.

Salt – a bit of regular table salt.

Can I Use All Butter Instead of Vegetable Shortening?

I tested this recipe with both all-butter and a combo of butter-shortening. The butter-and-shortening cookies were soft, chewy, and spread just the right amount.

The all-butter cookies were denser, a bit greasy, and spread more (yielding thinner cookies). However, you can certainly use all-butter if that’s what you’d prefer (or have on hand). Just realize that the final result will be different!

Can’t get enough cookies? Don’t forget to check out my library of Cookie Recipes including a lineup of Crumbl Copycat Recipes.

How to Make Mini Snickerdoodles

Find the complete printable recipe at the end of the post!

Making Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies is quite similar to making larger cookies, except we are going to use a mini cookie scoop for tiny lil irresistible cookies.

The dough is chilled (usually about 1 hour is enough) to make it easier and faster to scoop and the tiny cookie dough balls are rolled in cinnamon sugar.

First we’ll whip up a quick cinnamon sugar coating. Just mix a little granulated sugar and ground cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside.

For the cookie dough, I use a hand mixer and medium bowl to cream together the butter, shortening, and sugar. Cream until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Beat until combined, but don’t overmix.

Creamed butter and sugar and creamed butter, sugar, and egg in a glass bowl.

Add the dry ingredients (flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt) and mix together until just combined.

Chill dough for at least 30 minutes or until easy to scoop (usually takes about 1 hour).

Dry ingredients added to a bowl of creamed butter and sugar and then mixed in.

Scoop cookies with a 1.5 teaspoon scoop and roll each cookie in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat completely.

Bake on lined baking sheets for about 9 minutes until they have puffed and are lightly crackled throughout the tops.

The puffed cookies will flatten as they cool.

Scooped mini snickerdoodle cookies on a lined baking tray and the final baked cookies.

Quick Tip: How to Bake Chewy Cookies

Tiny cookies are easy to overbake, so watch them closely and pull them out from the oven once they are puffed and lightly crackled throughout. It’s usually best to pull cookies a little early rather than a little late. Cookies baked for just a bit less time maintain their chewiness even when completely cool. On the other hand, cookies that stay in the oven a little longer will cool to be crunchy (which is good too, but I love a chewy cookie!).

A small plate of mini snickerdoodles and two metal measuring spoons.

How to Store Mini Cookies

Store cookies in an air-tight container up to 5 days. Adding a small piece of bread can help maintain chewiness as well. Keep cookies for even longer when you freeze them! I usually freeze mine up to 1-2 months.

Other Mini Cookie Recipes

Other Cookie Recipes

A small plate of snickerdoodle cookies and metal measuring spoons.

Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies

Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies are a tiny version of the classic cookie. They have all the spice, tang, and chewiness of the original–but mini-sized! They are quick to make with a small cookie scoop and look adorable on holiday cookie platters. Perfect for snacking too!
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chill 1 hour
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 65 cookies
Calories 34 kcal

Ingredients
  

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Snickerdoodle Cookies

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 2 ounces
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening (i.e. Crisco; I used Crisco Shortening Sticks)
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar 5.25 ounces
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour 6.7 ounces
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

  • Mix together the sugar and ground cinnamon for the cinnamon sugar coating together in a shallow bowl. Set aside.

Mini Snickerdoodle Cookies

  • Using a medium bowl and a hand mixer with the beater attachments, cream together the softened butter, vegetable shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).
  • Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Beat until combined, but don't overmix.
  • Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Mix together with the hand mixer until the dough is just combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the bowl as needed.
  • Chill dough for at least 30 minutes or until easy to scoop (usually takes about 1 hour). You can also chill the dough as needed until ready to bake up to 24 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • Scoop cookies with a 1.5 teaspoon scoop (or use a small measuring spoon). Roll the scoops in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat completely and place cookies at least 1.5" apart on the baking sheet.
  • Bake cookies for about 9 minutes until they have puffed and are lightly crackled throughout the tops. Allow to cool before digging in. Cookies will flatten as they cool.
    Tip: If you aren't sure, it's best to slightly undercook the cookies so they will still be chewy when they cool. Overcooked cookies will cool to be crunchy.

Notes

Can I Use All Butter? Yes. If you’d prefer to skip the vegetable shortening (or don’t have any on hand), you may use all-butter in place of the shortening.
How Small Are the Cookies? The cookies measure about 1.5″ in diameter. This may differ a bit depending on how long you chill your dough and the scoop size that you use. 

Nutrition

Calories: 34kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 0.4gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 19mgPotassium: 12mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 25IUVitamin C: 0.002mgCalcium: 2mgIron: 0.1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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2 Comments

    1. Hi Richard,

      I also tested this recipe with all-butter (so, double the butter and omit the shortening) and the all-butter cookies were a bit more dense, slightly greasy, and spread a little more. They were still quite yummy though so I’d say go for it!