Recipe: Clementine Orange Snickerdoodles | Cooking On the Side (2024)

Cookies

Over the past few years there’s been a little sleeper of a cookie trend among the food blogs. It hasn’t come through in huge waves, like macarons or hasselback potatoes. Just an isolated post here and there…but over time it’s nearly evolved into a movement.

Food bloggers have been tinkering with snickerdoodles.

Snickerdoodles – the after school cookie jar favorite that I, until recently, only knew in its classic form: rolled in cinnamon sugar. Well, the realm of snickerdoodles has expanded greatly. Check out some of the incredible flavor variations people have come up with:

Someone needs to open an all-snickerdoodle bakery stat!

If a flavor tastes great with cinnamon and sugar, it’ll probably taste great in snickerdoodles. That’s the guiding thought I had in my head as I gazed at the big bowl of clementine oranges on my kitchen island. The next thing I knew, golden hued, citrus-scented Clementine Orange Snickerdoodles were emerging from the oven. Adding clementine zest and juice to the classic recipe I shared on the blog a while back gave the cookies just enough of a flavor twist to be complementary and interesting, not overpowering. Now to give some of these other variations a spin…

Recipe: Clementine Orange Snickerdoodles | Cooking On the Side (1)

Clementine Snickerdoodles

Adapted from the Snickerdoodles recipe on the back of the Gold Medal all-purpose flour package

Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 30 minutes | Total time: 50 minutes

Yield: 5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:

Cookies:

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • Zest of 2 clementine oranges
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed clementine orange juice
  • 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:

  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Combine the sugar, butter, clementine zest, juice and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
  3. Shape the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Combine the cinnamon sugar topping ingredients together in a small bowl; roll the balls in the mixture. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, lined with parchment.
  4. Bake the cookies until they’re set and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove them from the cookie sheet. Cool them completely on a wire rack.

You can, of course, always substitute other varieties of oranges in this recipe. If you use a navel orange or another that’s much larger than a clementine, you’ll probably only need the zest from one piece of fruit.

Cookies

14 Comments

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14 Comments

  1. What a nice twist on an old cookie favorite!

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  2. Omg love the sound of this!

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  3. Amy wrote:

    Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie….I love them so much, I’ve converted them to a pie, muffins, pancakes… cinnamon and sugar. Sigh. Love your variation here, and I’ve also got my eye on the Chai, lemon, and spiced rum.

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  4. Dying to try these since snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies.

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  5. Colleen wrote:

    My mom’s sugar cookies have orange zest in them– they are tastier than many that I’ve tried. (I think it’s actually an old Better Homes & Gardens recipe.)

    So this seems like a naturally delicious combination– yum.

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  6. Amanda wrote:

    Gorgeous cookies, Kathy! What fun flavor combos, I could definitely get in on this snickerdoodle craze 🙂

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  7. Carolyn wrote:

    Snickerdoodles are popular, that is true. And I love your little flavour variation on them here.

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  8. naomi wrote:

    Wow- I love how creative this snickerdoodle is. I can’t wait to try it, Kathy!

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  9. Mike wrote:

    I remember my first snickerdoodle – it was after college, and my roommate’s mom sent him back to our apartment with some wonderful, chewy, delicious snickerdoodles. Changed my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mrs. Nudelman!

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  10. Kalyn wrote:

    Oh my, delish!

    Posted 2.15.12Reply

  11. MK wrote:

    I baked these to the recipe and they all went flat 🙁
    Tasted delicious, though! 🙂

    Posted 3.25.13Reply

    • Kathy Strahs wrote:

      I’m sorry to hear they went flat on you! Sometimes that can happen if the leavening (in this case, baking soda) is past its prime. I’m glad they at least tasted good. 🙂

      Posted 3.25.13Reply

  12. Mary wrote:

    Does this really make 5 dozen cookies?

    Posted 8.26.20Reply

    • Kathy Strahs wrote:

      All depends on what size you make them!

      Posted 8.26.20Reply

Recipe: Clementine Orange Snickerdoodles | Cooking On the Side (2024)

FAQs

Why are my snickerdoodles flat and crispy? ›

Not Enough Flour

If your cookies are flat, brown, crispy, and possibly even a bit lacy around the edges, that means you need to add flour to your dough for the next batch. Our cookies were brittle and greasy and cooked much faster than the other dough balls on the sheet.

Why are my snickerdoodles spreading so much? ›

Excess Sugar and Fat

Measuring is key in baking. If your cookie contains excess sugar or fat, it will spread while baking.

How do you know when snickerdoodles are done baking? ›

How do you know when the cookies are baked? The snickerdoodle cookies will only take about 10 to 12 minutes to bake, so be sure to keep your eye on them! It's best to rotate the cookies after about 6 minutes so that the cook evenly. The cookies are done when the edges are just set and the centres are soft and cracked.

Why don t my snickerdoodles crack? ›

If yours aren't cracking, your oven may not be hot enough or your ingredients may not be fresh enough! Are snickerdoodles supposed to be undercooked? I always recommend slightly underbaking your cookies and then letting them finish baking through cooling on the pan.

Which is better, baking soda or baking powder? ›

The leavening power of baking soda is about three to four times stronger than baking powder. This means that you need a lot less baking soda in your recipes. If a recipe calls for baking soda and you only have baking powder, you need to use the right baking soda to baking powder conversion.

Are snickerdoodles supposed to be soft when they come out of the oven? ›

Everyone and anyone has a recipe for snickerdoodles, but I'm here today to tell you that these are the absolute best of the best. They puff in the oven and then settle back down while cooling into a soft, thick, supremely chewy cookie with a gorgeous crinkly top.

Why does snickerdoodle dough need to be refrigerated? ›

Refrigerating snickerdoodle dough lets the butter resolidify and prevents the cookies from flattening out in the oven. I recommend giving the dough at least 45-60 minutes of chilling time in the fridge before baking.

Why do my snickerdoodles get hard? ›

Snickerdoodles might turn out hard if they are overbaked or if the dough is too dry.

Why did my snickerdoodles come out dry? ›

However they won't be particularly chewy and they should not spread out on the baking sheet that much. There are several reasons why the cookies may have become dry and crumbly but the two most likely are that either the cookies were baked for too long or too much flour was added to the dough.

What can I substitute for cream of tartar in snickerdoodles? ›

You can either replace cream of tartar with baking powder at a 1:1.5 ratio (1 teaspoon cream of tartar : 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder), or you can replace cream of tartar with the combination of baking soda and either lemon juice or vinegar (as with this recipe).

What happens if you forget baking soda in snickerdoodles? ›

baking soda allows the ingredients to rise and become airy. Without baking soda, your cookies will be very dense, perhaps not chewy, and not as tasty. Originally Answered: What happens if you don't put baking soda in cookies? Most likely, the cookies will be flat and hard.

How to keep snickerdoodles from spreading? ›

Chilling is a step called for in many cookie recipes, and it isn't a place to cut corners. “When chilled cookies bake, the butter stays in a solid form longer, slowing the spread,” says Dawn.

How do you fix runny snickerdoodle dough? ›

Soft – Dough that's “soft” or “runny” can be thickened by adding one or two tablespoons of flour to your mix. This will help keep your batch from “Spreading” and coming out of the oven looking like flat, not-so-cookie-like puddles.

Is snickerdoodle cookie dough supposed to be sticky? ›

The snickerdoodle dough can be sticky and tough to handle. I like to grease my hands with cooking spray so they are easier to handle. Refrigerate. Also, after you have rolled one tray of snickerdoodles, place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Why did my snickerdoodles turn flat? ›

Why are my snickerdoodles flat? Snickerdoodles can come out flat if 1) the leaveners you used (for this recipe, it's both the baking soda and the cream of tartar) are on the old side and no longer work, and 2) if you baked them at a lower temperature. First, figure out if it's your leavener.

Why did my cookies come out flat and crunchy? ›

Too much sugar can cause cookies to come out flat and crispy instead of soft and chewy. This goes for both white sugar and brown sugar. Not enough flour could also be the culprit. Especially with baking, there's much less wiggle room when it comes to having the proper ingredient ratios.

What causes flat crispy cookies? ›

WHY ARE MY COOKIES FLAT? HOW TO FIX FLAT COOKIES
  • OVEN IS TOO HOT. Oven temperatures are a crucial factor in baking. ...
  • INGREDIENTS MEASURED INCORRECTLY. ...
  • BAKING SHEET IS TOO HOT. ...
  • BUTTER IS TOO SOFT. ...
  • BAKING SHEET IS OVER-GREASED. ...
  • DOUGH WASN'T CHILLED BEFORE BAKING. ...
  • DOUGH IS OVERMIXED. ...
  • BAKING SHEET WAS OVERCROWDED.

Why are my cookies always flat and hard? ›

Too much sugar and not enough flour could lead to flat cookies. If your cookie recipe calls for a high ratio of white sugar, it's likely that your cookies will turn out flat.

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