Thicccc, soft, and chewy snickerdoodle bars! This recipe is a great alternative to regular snickerdoods, since you avoid the fuss of rolling out dough. Simply make the dough in one bowl, press into a baking pan, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake!
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About these snickerdoodle bars
I love love LOVE my pig snickerdoodle recipe and thought it would be fun to make a cookie bar version! It’s the same great taste, but a denser, chewier version. Like, just check out the picture above to see the texture! And in my opinion, cookie bar recipes are a convenient option to have when baking—sometimes we need a break from rolling out cookie dough, y’know?
If you’re not familiar with snickerdoodles, they’re soft, chewy, and are actually one of my favorite cookie flavors! And that means something, since I make a LOT of cookies. Anyway, snickerdoodles are pretty much the cinnamon sugar version of regular sugar cookies, but with a ‘lil tangy flavor.
What’s great is that this snickerdoodle cookie dough is pretty simple to make—it comes together in one bowl, then is pressed evenly into a square pan. Right before baking, the top is sprinkled with a layer of cinnamon sugar. The bars come out soft with a bit of chew and a crunchy sugar topping. They aren’t too sweet and are full of cinnamon flavor. Plus, they have that signature tang that snickerdoodles are known for, all because of the cream of tartar.
If you want, you can dress up the snickerdoodle cookie bars with fun designs! Here, I share my easy icing recipe, but you can always use store-bought icing or melted chocolates. I decorated my cookies with a few tiny bears, but feel free to draw on any design and get creative with it. Up to you!
Now, let’s get to snickerdoodle bar recipe!
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- 8″x8″ baking pan
- Small bowl: For mixing the cinnamon sugar.
- Medium mixing bowl: For all of your dry ingredients.
- Large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer: For the snickerdoodle dough.
- Hand whisk, electric whisk, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment: I used a hand whisk because I didn’t feel like getting my other mixers out, haha! Any are fine here, especially since the butter is melted.
- Silicone spatula: For mixing in the dry ingredients.
- Cookie scoop (optional): I used my cookie scoop to transfer the dough into the baking pan, but you can just dump the dough in, too!
And if you want to decorate the cookies with bears or another design, which is totally optional:
- 2 Small mixing bowls
- 1 small silicone spatulas
- 4 piping bags or toothpicks
- Scissors
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Cornstarch: This helps keep the cookies soft and chewy!
- Cream of tartar: This unique ingredient is what makes snickerdoodles tangy in flavor!
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Table salt: I use Morton’s.
- Unsalted butter: I like using Vital Farms.
- Granulated sugar
- Light or dark brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
Again, these ingredients are optional for the design. You can use store-bought icing, melted chocolates, or my easy icing recipe. The following are for my icing recipe:
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
- Food coloring (pink/red, brown, black)
How to make chewy snickerdoodle bars
- 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 you make these cinnamon squares.
- Mix butter and sugar: In your large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer, whisk the melted butter and sugars together until smooth.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract: Mix in one egg, whisking until smooth. Then add second egg and vanilla extract, mixing again until combined.
- Stir in dry ingredients: Stir in the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt until no dry spots remain.
- Transfer dough into pan: Use a large cookie scoop or dump all of the cookie dough into a lined 8″x8″ baking pan. Use silicone spatula to evenly flatten the dough.
- Bake: Bake snickerdoodle bars at 350°F/177°C for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and edges are set. Let fully cool in pan.
- Decorate (optional): If decorating as bears, use melted chocolates or icing to draw on the faces.
- Store: You can store the cinnamon squares in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Snickerdoodle flavor variations
I absolutely love changing up recipes. It makes baking fun. Here are some ideas that I think would be really fun to try out:
- Add matcha powder: If you’re a matcha lover, I suggest adding 1 tbsp of sifted matcha powder to the wet ingredients!
- Top with frosting: You can top the snickerdoodle cookie bars with frosting! I think a cream cheese frosting would be great here.
Tips
- Use a kitchen scale: I LOVE using a kitchen scale because it always yields consistent, accurate results when measuring ingredients. 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.
FAQs
Snickerdoodles are soft, light, chewy cookies. They’re quite similar to sugar cookies, but have added cinnamon. They are also a bit tangy because of the cream of tartar!
Yes! I tried this recipe with 1:1 Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour and it worked well.
Once they’re cooled, I recommend storing them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. If stacking the bars, place a piece of wax or parchment paper in between so they do not stick.
Allow the bars come to room temperature before eating, about 15-20 minutes.
How to store
Once they’re cooled, I recommend storing them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
For long-term storage, keep the airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months! If stacking the bars, place a piece of wax or parchment paper in between so they do not stick. Let bars come to room temperature before eating, about 15-20 minutes.
Other desserts
- Easy blondie bars
- Cute pig snickerdoodles
- Cinnamon brown butter shortbread bears
- Cookie sandwiches with spiced cream cheese frosting
- Small-batch cinnamon sugar mochi donuts
- Cinnamon bun macarons
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make these snickerdoodle cookie bars or my other cinnamon desserts, I’d love to see them. You can tag me at #bitesbybianca / @bitesbybianca on Instagram. Enjoy!
PS—I’d love to make more cookie bar recipes! Let me know which cookie bar flavor you’d like to see next.
📖 Recipe
Easy Snickerdoodle Bars
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Equipment
- Parchment Paper
- 1 8"x8" baking pan
- 1 small bowl
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer
- 1 hand whisk, electric whisk, or stand mixer with paddle attachment
- 1 large cookie scoop optional
- 2 small mixing bowls, optional for bear design
- 1 small silicone spatula or spoon, optional for bear design
- 4 Piping bags optional for bear design
- 1 pair of scissors, optional for bear design
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups (312.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) cornstarch
- 1 ¼ teaspoons (3.75 g) cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) table salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) light or dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 (2) eggs
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) vanilla extract
Cinnamon sugar topping:
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) ground cinnamon
For decorating (optional):
- 4 tablespoons (32 g) powdered sugar
- 1-2½ teaspoons (7.5-18.75 g) water
- food coloring (pink/red, brown, black)
Instructions
Make the snickerdoodle cookie dough:
- Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C. Lightly grease and line an 8"x8" baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 2 tsp cornstarch, 1 ¼ tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt.
- In a large bowl (can also use bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment), whisk the 1 cup melted butter, 1 cup granulated sugar, and ¼ cup brown sugar until combined. Scrape bottom of bowl.
- Add ONE egg and mix until smooth. Add second egg and 1 tbsp vanilla. Mix again until smooth. (Adding one egg at a time helps the mixture come together to the right consistency more seamlessly. Otherwise, the mixture may separate and be a gloopy mess.If you added both at the same time, mix until smooth as much as possible. The cookie dough should still come together once you add the dry ingredients.)
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients and use silicone spatula to mix until no dry spots remain.
Bake bars:
- Use a large cookie scoop or dump all of the snickerdoodle dough onto lined baking pan. Press down the dough into a flat layer using your spatula.
- In your small bowl, mix ¼ cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon until combined. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the cookie cough.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
- Let completely cool on pan, about 1-2 hours. Remove from baking tray.
Decorate (optional):
- Note: You can a piping bag, toothpick, or cookie scribe to add on the details. I used piping bags. For these next steps, I only used 2 mixing bowls to limit dishes. I start off with the lighter colors first, then move to darker ones.
- In your small mixing bowl, add 4 tbsp powdered sugar. Add ¼ tsp of water at a time, mixing with a small silicone spatula or spoon until you get a pipeable consistency. You may need up to 2 ½ tsp of water.If it's too liquidy, add more powdered sugar. If it's too stiff, add more water.
- Transfer ~1 tsp of the mixture into a piping bag. This will be the white color for the snout and inner ears.
- Transfer ~½ tsp of the remaining icing into another small bowl. Dye this pink or red for the blush, then transfer it to a new piping bag.
- Dye remaining icing brown. This will be for the bear head. Transfer most of this mixture to its own piping bag, leaving about 1 tsp of brown icing left in the bowl.
- Dye the last remaining icing black. This will be for the eyes and nose. Transfer to piping bag.
- Snip the ends of the piping bags with scissors. Decorate bars with icing, slice, and enjoy!
Notes
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- See blog post for the links for the equipment I used!