Sugar, spice, and everything nice that you love about the classic cookie. Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars take half the time as the original, but come with ALL the yums!
Snickerdoodles are pretty much cookie perfection. When made homemade, they’re chewy, moist, tangy, and sweet. There’s almost nothing better than a freshly baked snickerdoodle and we’re making them even better with this easy snickerdoodle recipe.
Cookie bars are quick, easy to make, and taste JUST as good as individually baked cookies. Whether I’m making cookie bars or a cookie cake, I love finding ways to make recipes more efficient and these Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars are the perfect example of that!
SNICKERDOODLE COOKIE BARS
Like this recipe? Pin it to your DESSERT pinboard!
Follow Real Housemoms on Pinterest
Snickerdoodles were my grandma’s specialty. Her’s were perfect – chewy and moist, with a sweet cinnamon crust on top. She almost always had a warm batch ready for when my brothers and I visited her. I can practically smell the aroma of her kitchen now!
My grandma’s snickerdoodle cookie recipe was so perfect that for most of my adult life, I didn’t even attempt to make them myself. I couldn’t stand to mess them up. Once I got past that fear (and I realized that I needed wayyyy more snickerdoodles in my life), I realized that snickerdoodles are actually quite simple to make – almost impossible to mess up!
But, I found that despite the fact that they were simple to make, they were time-consuming. Scooping out the cookie dough, baking them for 10 minutes, removing them from the pan, repeating two or three times… you get the picture. It felt like I was spending my entire day baking one batch of cookies!
That’s when I decided to default to my favorite time-saving hack – make them into COOKIE BARS! Seriously, whoever came up with this genius idea deserves some kind of award. Plop all your cookie dough into a pan, let it bake, and then cut it up into bars? It literally saves SO much time. My grandma’s perfect snickerdoodle cookies recipe has now been transformed into the best snickerdoodle recipe – Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars.
What is a Snickerdoodle?
Take a classic sugar cookie recipe, add the *SECRET* (alright, it’s not so secret) ingredient – cream of tartar – and roll it in cinnamon sugar… you’ve got yourself some delicious snickerdoodles!
Snickerdoodles are much like a sugar cookie, but with those two major changes: a cinnamon sugar coating and cream of tartar. These chewy cookies are tangy (thanks to the cream of tartar) and sweet. They’re one of my favorite cookies. Not to mention – they work perfectly as dessert bars as well as typical drop cookies!
Ingredients for Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars
For the cookie bars you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Cream of tartar
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Butter
- Butter
- Sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
For the topping you’ll need:
- Sugar
- Ground cinnamon
You might be asking yourself – “Really, Aubrey? Cream of Tartar??” and I’m telling you YES. Trust me. The most important thing I learned from my grandmas’ easy snickerdoodle cookie recipe was that cream of tartar is essential.
It does two things: first, it gives the cookies that quintessential snickerdoodle tang, a touch of sourness that really elevates the taste. Second, it helps to leaven the flour which gives the cookie bars that chewy consistency that I love so much about snickerdoodles!
How to Make Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars
This easy dessert bar recipe is our go-to for so many reasons. My favorite reason that the instructions are so simple to follow, even my boys can help out in the baking process. Grab your ingredients and get baking now!
- Start off by preheating, your oven to 350 degrees F. Then, grease a 9 x 13 inch pan or baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set it aside for later.
- After that, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside the dry ingredients.
- Next, beat the room temperature butter in a large bowl until it’s nice and creamy. You can either use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer. Then, mix in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. B the butter and sugars together until they’re light and fluffy. This will take approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Now you’re ready to add the eggs. Mix in one egg at a time until just it’s just combined into the batter. Then add in your vanilla and mix until everything is nice and smooth.
- Bring the batter all together by pouring the flour mixture into your butter mixture SLOWLY!! Mix the batter until it’s well combined. As with any cookie recipe though – don’t overmix! You don’t want your cookies to come out tough!
- Spread your snickerdoodle dough mixture into the prepared pan from earlier. Be sure to get it to all the corners and out to the edges.
- Make the topping by, mixing the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Then sprinkle it evenly all over the top of the batter.
- Place the baking pan into your oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Once the cookies are done baking, carefully remove them from the once and allow them to cool on a wire rack. When you’re ready to get you nom on, cut the cooled cookies into 20 bars.
You can easily double this recipe (using two pans) if you’re baking for a crowd or a bake sale. These cookie bars FLY off the plate anywhere I take them.
Other Cookie Bar recipes
Cookie bars are a busy mom’s LIFESAVER. You can turn almost any of your favorite cookie recipes into a cookie bar recipe – simple but your dough into a baking pan rather than forming individual cookies. It saves time and it also ensures that the cookies will all bake evenly! Here are some of my personal favorite dessert bar recipes:
- German Chocolate Cookie Bars – caramel, pecans, coconut, and chocolate… you can’t go wrong!
- Lemon Poppy Seed Sugar Cookie Bars – a unique take on my FAVORITE type of muffins, these cookie bars are perfection.
- Brown Sugar Cookie Bars – super quick and easy, these yummy treats pair perfectly with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Bars – these are incredibly addicting and an added bonus – they’re vegan!
Looking to satisfy your sweet tooth in other ways? Check out some of these other Real Housemoms dessert recipes!
- Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie Fat Bombs
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Swirled Red Velvet Brownies
- Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
- more DESSERT recipes…
Tools used to make this Snicker doodle Cookies recipe
9-inch x 13-inch pan: Whether I’m making brownies or cookie bars, my non-stick 9×13 pan is what I grab!
Mixing bowls: You’ll need at least 3 bowls for this recipe, so this set of nesting mixing bowls is perfect!
*This post originally posted on 03/11/2016.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch x 13-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together butter until creamy using an electric mixer (or a stand mixture). Mix in sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, approximately 3 -4 minutes. Mix in eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, and mix until smooth.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
- Spread cookie bar batter out in the prepared baking pan.
- In a small bowl, mix 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon together and then sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cookie bars to cool. Cut into 20 bars before serving.
Nutrition
Larry Fraser says
Quick and simple..