These chocolate snickerdoodles are everything you adore about the original, but richer, fudgier, and rolled in cinnamon sugar that caramelizes into the most irresistible crackly coating. Think: brownie meets snickerdoodle. Yes, they’re as good as they sound!
My love for snickerdoodles runs deep. I mean, what’s not to love? They’re simply soft, puffy, tangy, cinnamon-sugary perfection. From my recipe for classic soft and thick snickerdoodles to fun variations like peanut butter snickerdoodles or these reader-favorite white chocolate snickerdoodle blondies… I even have a recipe for a showstopper of a snickerdoodle cake!
Today, we’re giving the beloved cinnamon-sugar cookie a chocolatey twist.
These chocolate snickerdoodles bake up thick and soft with chewy edges, crackled tops, and centers that stay rich and fudgy for days. They’re not cakey or crisp—think plush chocolate cookie with that unmistakable snickerdoodle tang.
Why You’ll Love These Chocolate Snickerdoodles
- Simple, straightforward baking ingredients
- Soft, thick, and chewy
- Deep cocoa flavor without being overly rich
- Crackly cinnamon-sugar exterior (the best part!)
What Makes a Snickerdoodle a Snickerdoodle?
Cream of tartar! It’s the magic ingredient that gives snickerdoodles their signature tang and that pillowy-soft texture. If you skip it, you’ll just have a cinnamon-sugar-rolled chocolate cookie—still good, but not a true snickerdoodle.
Cream of tartar, when combined with baking soda, creates a chemical reaction that releases carbon dioxide, helping the cookies rise and contributing to a crackly surface. Cream of tartar also interferes with sugar crystallization, resulting in a chewier cookie instead of a crispier one. Science!
Grab These Ingredients:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is best for these cookies.
- Cocoa Powder: Use natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process. We need the cocoa powder’s acidity to react with the cream of tartar and baking soda.
- Cream of Tartar: See above for info on this snickerdoodle must-have!
- Baking Soda: To help the cookies rise and spread.
- Cinnamon: A little in the dough and a little more mixed with granulated sugar for coating the cookies… it’s just the right amount to add warmth and coziness, but not overpower the chocolate.
- Salt: For flavor balance.
- Butter: Start with proper room-temperature butter.
- Sugar: We are sweetening today’s cookies with both granulated and brown sugar.
- Eggs: Add richness and bind ingredients together.
- Vanilla: Essential for flavor in most cookie recipes!
Success Tip: Chill the Cookie Dough
This chocolate snickerdoodle dough needs to chill for at least 2 hours before you can shape and bake the cookies.
Chilling the dough is essential here. It firms up the butter so the cookies hold their shape, deepens the chocolate flavor, and helps the cookies puff up in the oven, and then deflate a bit as they cool. This process helps create those signature cracks on the surface of each cookie.
Once the dough has firmed up, use a medium cookie scoop to shape 1.5-Tablespoon portions of dough, roll into balls, and roll them in cinnamon-sugar to coat.
These chocolate snickerdoodles take everything nostalgic and comforting about the original and give it a rich, fudgy upgrade. They’re simple, crowd-pleasing, and the kind of cookie that disappears from the cooling rack fast. So, you may want to go ahead and double the batch!
Cream of tartar is what gives snickerdoodles their signature tang and soft texture. Without it, these will still be tasty chocolate cookies, but they won’t have that classic snickerdoodle flavor. I don’t recommend leaving it out.
Cracks usually come from a well-chilled dough, properly preheated oven, and a long enough bake time. If the dough is too warm or overmixed, the cookies may spread more and crack less. Additionally, if the cookies are under-baked, they won’t puff up as much. You want them to be puffy coming out of the oven, so they deflate a bit as they cool.
You can, but keep in mind it will make the cookies heavier and slightly less “snickerdoodle-like.” If you do add them, I’d stick to mini chocolate chips and use no more than 3/4 cup, or around 130g.
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Soft & Chewy Chocolate Snickerdoodles
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
- Yield: 28-32 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft, thick, and fudgy chocolate snickerdoodles rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked until crackly on the outside and irresistibly chewy inside. Everything you love about classic snickerdoodles, with a rich chocolate twist.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 and 2/3 cups (333g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (43g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 1/3 cup (70g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Make the cookies: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until creamy and combined, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until incorporated and combined. The dough will be thick.
- Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hours (or up to 3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, let the dough sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before scooping and rolling, as it will be quite firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Make the topping: Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
- Scoop and roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons (35g) of cookie dough each. Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon-sugar topping. Arrange 2–3 inches apart on the lined baking sheets.
- Bake the cookies until the edges are set but the centers look puffy, about 13–15 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Cookies will slightly deflate as they cool; that’s expected.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: There are a few options here! First, you can prepare the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Let the dough sit out at room temperature for about 20 minutes before rolling and baking the cookies. You can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Roll the dough into balls then freeze the balls for up to 2–3 months. I recommend freezing without the topping. When you are ready to bake, remove the balls from the freezer, let sit for 30 minutes, preheat the oven, then roll into topping. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Can I Skip the Cream of Tartar? Cream of tartar is what gives snickerdoodles their signature tang and soft texture. Without it, these will still be tasty chocolate cookies, but they won’t have that classic snickerdoodle flavor. I don’t recommend leaving it out.
- Why Didn’t My Cookies Crack On Top? Cracks usually come from a well-chilled dough, properly preheated oven, and a long enough bake time. If the dough is too warm or overmixed, the cookies may spread more and crack less. Additionally, if the cookies are under-baked, they won’t puff up as much. You want them to be puffy coming out of the oven, so they deflate a bit as they cool.
- Can I Add Chocolate Chips? You can, but keep in mind it will make the cookies heavier and slightly less “snickerdoodle-like.” If you do add them, I’d stick to mini chocolate chips and use no more than 3/4 cup, or around 130g. Add them when you add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Delicious! The chocolate does overpower the other flavors. Although they didn’t give “snickerdoodles,” they were delicious cookies! I drizzled mine with a cinnamon chocolate drizzle for added flair! They came out great!
Is it possible to halve this Recipe?
Hi Ruzgar, yes, feel free to halve this recipe.
Man o man, these were so so good! It wasn’t very sweet and they are now my favorite snickerdoodles! Thanks for sharing, yummy and great for Christmas giving.
So good!!!! This recipe is a keeper!!!!
If I only have Dutch-process cocoa — may I add something to the recipe to make it work? Thank you!
Hi Cris, we need the unsweetened natural cocoa powder’s acidity to react with the cream of tartar and baking soda. We don’t recommend Dutch process cocoa powder here unfortunately.
I just finished my second batch of your chocolate snickerdoodles. They are as advertised. Both soft and chewy. My family and friends loved them. What an easy recipe also. I did make one change. In my second batch I used Cane Sugar rather than granulated. It gave the tops a little more crunch. Thank you for this great recipe.
This is a good cookie, in my book not quite coming up to a great cookie. I measured mine out to a 20 g size, 35 g seems like an enormous cookie for something that’s this rich. Somehow the sugar and cinnamon coating completely disappeared once they were baked?
Although tasty mine puffy up and cracked but never flattened out so ended up cakey instead of chewy. Still tasty though
Followed the recipe exactly and the cookies were amazing. I don’t think I could go back to regular snickerdoodles!
I decided to try adding organic espresso. Backed off to 2.5 cups flour and added 1/6 C espresso. Worked out great.
Hi Sally! My name is Carmen. I baked these snickerdoodles and they tasted a little bitter, and not chocolatey. I carefully scooped and measured the ingredients so I don’t know what went wrong! Although, I have never made snickerdoodles before, and maybe they are supposed to taste like that.
Hi Carmen, happy to help! What kind of cocoa powder did you use? Make sure to use unsweetened natural cocoa powder. And make sure your baking soda is fresh – old baking soda can give a bitter flavor to baked goods.
These are sure to be a hit! I wonder if I could shape them, chill them, then roll them? I always have a hard time shaping chilled dough and I wonder if I could achieve the same result with shaping before chilling? Thanks for another great recipe!
Hi Sarah, you certainly can, the dough will just be quite sticky and a bit messy. Just clean your hands off as needed!
Another great recipe from Sally & Team! I made these for a gathering this morning. I forgot the cocoa so I added it after the batter was already made and it worked out anyway. Since it’s Christmas time, my husband suggested an icing for these. I made a quick espresso icing by beating together some instant espresso powder dissolved in a couple of tablespoons of boiling water, a stick of soft butter, some 10x sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and always–a pinch of salt. These cookies were a bit hit. The coffee/chocolate/cinnamon combination was yummy.
Great flavour, but I also had the issue of the cookies being puffy (cake like) instead of a chewy snickerdoodle. I measure all my ingredients by weight so that wasn’t the issue. If I make again I may reduce the flour.
I made these and they are delicious.
I made these cookies for the first time, today. I’ve never made even a regular snickerdoodle so had no idea what to expect. I followed the recipe precisely and they came out perfect! These will definitely become part of my cookie rotation!
Hey Sally! I saw the post and absolutely had to try it right away. The cookies came out delicious but mine were a bit more puffy and cakey rather than fudgy. Its my first time making snickerdoodles so I’m not sure what could’ve gone wrong or what to expect. Still delicious though!
Hi Vero! Thank you so much for giving these a try. Puffy cookies are often caused by too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. Hope this helps and we’re so glad you still enjoyed them!
Thanks for the reply Trina. I always weigh my flour and other ingredients when baking.
Does using dutch process cocoa name a difference. You usually put something about it in the notes, but you didn’t this time.
Hi Ruzgar, see the “grab these ingredients” section of the blog post above: Use natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process. We need the cocoa powder’s acidity to react with the cream of tartar and baking soda.
Yum!! Such an interesting combo but we love it! My son is allergic to dairy and my husband is vegan so I subbed earth balance butter in the tub and bobs egg replacer for the eggs and they turned out great. Thanks for the recipe!
Can these be made gluten free?
Hi Judith, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour but let us know if you try it!
Haven’t made it yet but when I read the recipe title I said “oooooaaahhhoooo” with a grin on my face. Very excited to try soon!
Can I substitute 1-1 gluten free flour?
Hi Virginia, we haven’t tested it, but let us know if you do!
Would using unbleached flour change the outcome of these or any cookie for that matter.
Hi KC, you can use unbleached or bleached all-purpose flour—your preference.