Cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses combine for a warm and soft cookie experience, perfect for the holidays and any time of year. Our Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies taste like the real-deal classic Snickerdoodles we all love, soft on the inside with a cinnamon-sugar crackled top. But now anyone can enjoy snickerdoodles made gluten-free and nut-free with a dairy-free option, too. A spoonful of molasses is the secret ingredient that gives each cookie a slight sweetness and softer texture, plus the perfect scent to conjure all the festive holiday feels.
Everyone seems to love a classic Snickerdoodle Cookie, making them the perfect cookie to share at the holidays or gathering throughout the year. With cinnamon-infused warm notes plus molasses to make them extra soft and chewy, these cookies are both delicious and beautiful. You just can’t beat that iconic, shimmery cinnamon-sugar coating that crackles over the top of each baked cookies. Perfect for parties, gifting to friends, and cookie exchanges. And we’re pretty sure Santa would be happy to see these Snickerdoodles on his cookie plate, too.
Ingredients To Make Gluten Free Snickerdoodles
We’ve combined our favorite spices to make these Gluten-Free Snickerdoodles an absolute sweet treat for anyone, any time of the year. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Butter – use unsalted, softened butter softened; for a dairy-free option, use a plant-based or vegan stick butter
- Sugar – you can use cane sugar or coconut sugar; both option will work great, but we prefer these cookies made with cane sugar for both the batter and the sprinkle topping
- Maple syrup – we recommend a pure Grade A maple syrup or a local-to-you maple syrup from a farmer’s market
- Molasses – blackstrap molasses is our favorite for this recipe, but you can use any molasses you have on hand
- Egg
- Gluten-free flour – we recommend using Bob’s Red Mill One-to-One Gluten-Free Baking Flour or King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten-Free Flour. You can also use an equal amount of unbleached all-purpose flour if you don’t need or want cookies that are gluten free
- Ground cinnamon – you’ll use this in both the cookie batter and the sprinkle topping
- Allspice
- Ground cloves
- Baking soda
- Fine sea salt
Lucky for you, it won’t take long to get these Snickerdoodles in the oven and onto your cookie tray!
- Make the sprinkle topping: In a small mixing bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar topping mixture; set aside.
- Make the cookie batter: In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, cane sugar, and egg. Mix together with a hand mixer, stand mixer or with a wooden spoon until creamy. Add the maple syrup and molasses; stir. Add the flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Stir until a dough forms.
- Bake the cookies: Scoop cookie dough out by the spoonful (about 2 tablespoons dough for each), and roll each portion between your palms to create a ball. Roll each ball in the bowl of cinnamon-sugar mixture until evenly coated. Place the coated dough rounds parchment-lined baking sheets. Slightly flatten the dough balls with the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown on the bottoms and edges of the cookies.
Get Soft-Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies Each Time
Like most people, we prefer our Snickerdoodles with a slight crispness on the outside and softness in the middle. How to achieve the perfect texture? The magic is in the baking time. For the best soft cookie, be sure to slightly under-bake your Snickerdoodles. When you start to see the slightest hint of light brown color on the bottom of a cookie, pull them out of the oven. The cookies will get more firm with that delicious outer crackle as they cool.
Store the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. Use parchment paper between layers of cookies and store up to 4 days for optimal freshness. But we doubt they’ll last that long!
Yes, these Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies can be frozen. Since the holidays are such a busy time, we love to make these several weeks in advance and then pull them out to thaw at room temperature whenever we want a sweet treat to share or gift. To freeze, place the completely cooled cookies in a container or bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
A classic Snickerdoodle Cookie for the holidays
Though these cookies are a loved classic any time of year, we think soft Snickerdoodles add the perfect, iconic touch to the holidays. They’re easy to make and also a great cookie recipe for the kids help make! Creating joyful holiday memories with our families is something we look forward to every year. These gluten-free Snickerdoodle cookies are a great way to bring the family together in the kitchen and teach a few baking skills along the way.
Gluten-Free Snickerdoodle Cookies (Easy to Make with Dairy-free Option)
Perfectly soft Snickerdoodle cookies with a hint of maple and molasses. Great to serve any time of year, and an especially perfect addition to a holiday cookie tray. These Snickerdoodles are gluten-free and nut-free with a dairy-free option.
Ingredients
For the Topping:
- 3 tablespoons cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the Cookie Batter
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened*
- ¾ cup cane sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 cups gluten-free flour blend (290-300g)**
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of fine sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon; set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, 3/4 cup cane sugar, and egg. Mix together with a hand mixer, stand mixer, or with a wooden spoon until creamy. Add the maple syrup and molasses; stir.
- Add the flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Stir until a dough forms.
- Scoop the dough out by the spoonful (about 2 tablespoons at a time). Roll each portion between your palms to make a ball.
- Roll each dough ball in the bowl of sugar-cinnamon mixture until evenly coated.
- Place the coated cookie dough ball on the parchment-covered baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and sugar-cinnamon mix until all dough is used. Using the bottom of a glass or your palm, slightly flatten each dough ball.
- Bake cookies until just lightly golden brown on the bottoms and edges, about 10-12 minutes.
- Let the cookies sit on the baking sheets for 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. The cookies will be soft to the touch but they will become more firm as they cool.
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Notes
*For a non-dairy cookie, use a plant-based or vegan stick butter in place of the unsalted butter.
**For gluten-free flours, we recommend Bob’s Red Mill One-to-One Gluten-Free Baking Flour or King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten-Free Flour. If you don’t want or need gluten-free cookies, you can use the same amount of unbleached all-purpose flour.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 113
- Fat: 4 g
- (Sat Fat: 2 g)
- Sodium: 53 mg
- Carbohydrate: 19 g
- (Fiber: 1 g
- Sugar: 9 g)
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 16 mg
Dietary
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Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Rachel Cook of Half Acre House.
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Hi I want to try this recipe but there’s a mistake with the quantity of cinnamon for the topping. It says 2 tsp in the ingredients and 3 tsp in the instructions. Which is it? Thank you.
Recipe has been updated. It’s 2 teaspoons. Thanks for letting us know!
I didn’t have maple syrup so I used honey which worked but they weren’t as sweet as they could have been. I also used a homemade GF baking mix in substitute for the GF flour because it was what I had on hand. They still turned out good. The cookies were not super firm which is how I prefer snickerdoodles. I liked the texture. I could tell my baking mix flavor came through more because of less sweetness. I definitely enjoyed them anyway! And I added more cinnamon! I am going to try these when I have everything correct through the recipe. Thank you for a GF snickerdoodle!
★★★★★
I’m making a few of your Christmas cookie recipes Sunday 12/18. Is the molasses necessary? Is there anything I can substitute or can I leave it out?
You could certainly try leaving it out. However, a spoonful of molasses is the secret ingredient that gives each cookie a slight sweetness and softer texture.
These are soooooo good! I would never know they are gluten free. I’ve already made 2 batches. This recipe will be saved to me again and again.
★★★★★
This is great! Happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for leaving a 5-star rating and review!
I find it odd that there is no xanthan gum in this recipe. I make my own gf blend without xanthan gum. Is there xanthan gum in the store bought blends you used or is it correct to not use it?
Hi Yvonne, yes there is xanthan gum in the Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour blend which is what we use!