Easy, quick, no chill ube snickerdoodles decorated with melted chocolate! These bear cookies are soft, not-too-sweet, and super adorable! They can be made in one bowl with a hand whisk and silicone spatula, making these cute cookies an easy project for beginner bakers!
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About these ube snickerdoodles
When I started blogging, there were barely any ube cookie recipes online. I wanted to help change that, so I got to baking! I’ve been busy. Just to name a few, I’ve made bakery-style ube cookies, thin & chewy white chocolate ube cookies, ube marshmallow cookies, and way more!
And now here is my newest ube cookie recipe: ube snickerdoodles. The outsides are crisp, but have incredibly soft centers. They’re not too sweet, are a bit tangy (due to the cream of tartar), and have the perfect balance between the cinnamon and ube. Kinda makes me want to make ube cinnamon rolls next!
And what’s even better, is that this recipe is extremely beginner-friendly. You can use one bowl, a hand mixer, and a silicone spatula. Shaping the cookie dough is quick and all the decorations are made with melted chocolate. So no super duper fancy equipment is needed, making this a fun project for the weekend.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Cinnamon
- Cream of tartar: This unique ingredient is what makes snickerdoodles tangy in flavor!
- Baking soda
- Table salt: I love using Morton!
- Unsalted butter: Vital Farms is my go-to brand.
- Granulated sugar
- Ube extract: This also contains food coloring, which help make these vibrant purple cookies!
- Ube halaya: AKA ube jam, which is mashed ube sweetened with sugar.
- Milk: You can use any type of milk.
Again, this is optional if you’d like to follow the bear design:
- White chocolate chips
- Milk chocolate chips
- Oil-based food coloring (pink or red)
How to make ube snickerdoodles
- Mise en place: aka “put in place”. This French saying simply means measure out all of the ingredients and prep your equipment beforehand. This helps you stay more organized and move more seamlessly in the kitchen while making these ube cookies.
- Mix butter and sugars: In your large mixing bowl, mix together the softened butter and sugar until smooth, about 2-3 minutes..
- Add ube extract and halaya: Stir until smooth, adding more extract to get your desired purple shade.
- Dump in dry ingredients: Mix the batter. If dough is crumbly, add a tablespoon of milk at a time. The finished dough should be thick but scoopeable.
- Scoop cookies:
- For regular ube snickerdoodles, use a small cookie scoop, or gather about 1 ½ tablespoon of dough into a ball. Roll into cinnamon sugar mixture, then place on lined baking tray. Space cookies 3-4 inches apart.
- For bear ube snickerdoodles, use a small cookie scoop, or gather about 1 ½ tablespoon of dough into a ball. Roll into cinnamon sugar mixture, then place on lined baking tray. For the ears, roll ½ tsp balls of dough into cinnamon sugar and place 2 on the sides of each head.
- Bake: Bake the kawaii cookies at 350°F for 10-13 minutes, or until edges are fully browned. Let cool on wire rack.
- Decorate: Use melted chocolate to draw on bear faces.
- Store: Keep these delicious purple cookies in an airtight container for up 5 days.
Tips
Making the cookie dough
- Use a kitchen scale: One of my favorite kitchen tools is a scale because it helps yield consistent results in baking. Measuring ingredients by weight is much more accurate rather than by volume (like using measuring cups). However, if you’re measuring your dry ingredients with cups, make sure you follow this tip: gently spoon in the flour into the cup until it’s full, then scrape the excess off using the back of a knife or offset spatula.
After baking
- For rounder cookies, immediately place a circle cookie cutter or mug (that is larger in diameter than your cookie) on top of a warm, oddly-shaped cookie. Move it around in a circular motion. This step, known as the “cookie scoot”, turns them into the more aesthetic, perfectly round cookies you see online! It’s not necessary, it’s purely for plating.
- For shaping baked bear cookies, you can use a silicone spatula to move the edges of the cookie around to your liking!
- When dying chocolate for decorating, you’ll want to use oil-based food coloring or it’ll seize and become lumpy. If you don’t have oil-based food coloring, you can mix in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time! The chocolate should come back together. Maaagic.
FAQs
What is ube?
If you’re not familiar with ube (pronunciation: oo-beh), it is a purple yam native to the Philippines. Ube is sometimes confused with another vegetable called taro, which has an earthier flavor and is used in both savory + sweet dishes.
On the other hand, ube is sweeter and often described as having vanilla and nutty notes. It’s commonly used in desserts, such as ice cream, cake, or jam. You can find ube halaya (aka ube jam) and ube extract in some Asian markets, especially Filipino ones. But if all else fails, you can buy ube extract/halaya or powdered ube online!
Can you make these ube cookies vegan?
Yes, you can!
Instead of regular butter, you can swap in high quality vegan butter made for baking. Make sure to use a good brand—some brands are very high in water content and melt at lower temperatures, yielding very flat cookies. I recommend brands like Miyokos and Country Crock.
Also make sure the ube halaya brand you are using is vegan. And as for decorating the bear faces, you can replace the decorating chocolate for a vegan brand, like Pascha chocolate. OR, you can try out my easy icing recipe, which is found in my teddy bear cookie recipe.
Can you make these ube snickerdoodles gluten-free?
Absolutely! I recommend using 1:1 gluten-free flour.
Can I make the cookie dough ahead of time?
Yes, you can! I recommend lining a tray or plate with parchment/wax paper. Then, arrange the cookie dough balls and bear ears in a single layer and freeze for about 1 hour.
Once the cookie dough pieces are frozen, you can transfer them to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake as usual, but add 1-2 extra minutes.
Storage
Store these cute bear ube cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days!
More ube dessert recipes
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make this ube cookie recipe, I’d love to see!!! You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Cute Ube Snickerdoodles
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Equipment
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 small bowl
- Parchment Paper
- Wire rack
- 2 small microwave-safe mixing bowls optional, for bear design
- 1 small silicone spatula, optional, for bear design
- 3 Piping bags optional, for bear design; can also use toothpicks or ziploc bags
- 1 pair scissors optional, for bear design
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ⅓ cups (166.67 g) all-purpose flour can use 1:1 gluten-free flour
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (3 g) cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon (4.5 g) salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (4.93 ml) ube extract
- ¼ cup (60 g) ube halaya
- 2-4 tablespoons (29.57 ml) any type of milk
For rolling:
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ½ tablespoon (4 g) cinnamon
Decoration for face:
- 3 tablespoons (44.36 g) white chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon (14.79 g) milk/dark chocolate chips
- oil-based red or pink food coloring see steps
Instructions
For the ube cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients: 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ¾ teaspoon salt.
- In a large bowl, use your hand whisk to cream the softened ½ cup unsalted butter and ½ cup granulated sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape bottom of bowl.
- Add 1 teaspoon ube extract and ¼ cup ube halaya. Mix until smooth. Add more ube extract until you get the shade of purple you desire.
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients. Use silicone spatula to mix until combined. If the dough is crumbly, slowly add 2-4 tablespoons any type of milk until it comes together. The finished dough should be thick but scoopable.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup granulated sugar and ½ tablespoon cinnamon for rolling the dough.
- Use small cookie dough scoop to gather dough (about 1 ½ tablespoon each) and shape into a ball. Roll dough into cinnamon sugar mixture, then place onto lined baking tray. This will be the bear's head.For the ears, take ½ tsp of dough, shape into a ball, then roll into cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the ear on the upper left or right side of the head and repeat for the other ear.Place bear ube cookies about 3-4 inches apart. They will not spread much while baking.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cookies should look puffy, soft, and retain their purple color. They should not be browned.
- Let cool on pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Let cool completely.
For the faces:
- You can a piping bag, toothpick, or cookie scribe to add on the details. I used a piping bag for the arrow and snouts, eyes, and noses, then a scribe for the blush.
- Melt 3 tablespoons white chocolate chips to a small microwave-safe bowl. Add a small drop of pink/red oil-based food coloring. Transfer to piping bag and use this for the snout and ears.*If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again.
- Add oil-based red or pink food coloring to the remaining melted white chocolate. Use this for the blush.*If you don't have oil-based food coloring, then the chocolate will seize/become lumpy. To counter this, stir in a tsp of neutral oil (canola, vegetable) at a time, until it becomes smooth again.
- Melt 1 tablespoon milk/dark chocolate chips in another small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone spatula, until fully melted. Transfer to piping bag and use this to draw on the eyes and nose.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- I remade this recipe using King Arthur’s gluten-free flour and they were just as delicious!
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
One of my favorites recipes. Way better than regular snickerdoodles and always the first to go when I do baking. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Sarah, thank you for such a wonderful review! I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe. 🙂 Happy, happy baking!
I watched a baker on Christmas cookie challenge and she made a ube snickerdoodle and I had to find a recipe. I am definitely making them for Christmas. I have 4 jars of ube jam sugar free and I made ube cookies and muffins. Thank you for the recipe.
Awww, yay how amazing!!! <3 <3 Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy all of your holiday baking.