Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars

Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars are soft, thick, buttery, and loaded with cinnamon-sugar goodness. Made with just a few simple ingredients, they’re quick and easy to whip up whenever a sweet craving hits. Perfect for sharing—or keeping all to yourself!

Love More Christmas Desserts? Try My Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies or this Peanut Butter Blossoms next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

These bars have the same tender, chewy texture as classic snickerdoodle cookies but are even easier to make. Cinnamon sugar on the top and bottom gives them a lightly crisp, caramelized edge that’s irresistible. Quick, low-fuss, and under five bucks, they’re perfect for sharing—or enjoying all to yourself!

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Ingredient List

For the Dough/Base:

• ¾ cup butter, melted (I use whatever’s cheapest at the store)
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed tight
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs (leave them on the counter while you gather everything else)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla – the real stuff, not imitation
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (this is key!)
• ½ teaspoon salt

For the Topping:

• ¼ cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (I buy the big container from Costco)

Quick swaps if you’re missing stuff: No cream of tartar? Squeeze 2 teaspoons lemon juice instead. My aunt does this and swears they taste identical. Got salted butter? Use it and skip adding the salt.

Why These Ingredients Work

My spice drawer has cream of tartar from like 2019, and it still works fine. This weird powder makes regular cinnamon cookies taste like actual snickerdoodles. Without it, you’re just eating cinnamon sugar cookies, which are fine but not the same thing at all.

The melted butter thing happened because I was rushing to get dessert ready before my book club showed up. Threw melted butter in instead of waiting for it to soften, and boom – chewiest bars ever. Now I melt it on purpose because these bars hold together way better than any cookie I’ve ever made.

Essential Tools and Equipment

You need a 9×13 pan, a big bowl, and something to stir with. That’s it. I use whatever mixing bowl isn’t dirty and a wooden spoon that’s probably older than my teenager.

Line your pan with parchment if you want easy cleanup, but honestly I just grease it real good with butter. My grandmother never used parchment and her bars came out fine for 50 years.

How To Make Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars

Preheat and prep

Turn your oven to 350°F. Grease your pan really well – I learned this after peeling bars off the bottom piece by piece. Not fun.

Make the base

Melt your butter in the microwave (30-second bursts so it doesn’t explode). Mix it with both sugars until it looks smooth. Crack in your eggs one at a time, then pour in the vanilla. Everything should look creamy and smell amazing.

Add the dry stuff

Dump in the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Stir just until you can’t see white flour anymore. Don’t go crazy mixing or you’ll get tough bars that nobody wants to eat.

Spread and top

Plop this thick dough into your pan and smoosh it flat with your hands. Mix that quarter cup of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl, then sprinkle it everywhere on top.

Bake

Stick it in the oven for about 22 minutes. They’re done when the top looks golden and doesn’t jiggle when you shake the pan.

Cool down

This is the hardest part – wait 30 minutes before cutting. I know they smell incredible, but trust me on this one. Hot bars = crumbly mess.

You Must Know

I cut my first batch too early and they fell apart everywhere. Looked like a toddler had gotten into them. Now I set my phone timer and go fold laundry or something to keep busy.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Cold eggs make lumpy batter. I forget to take them out every single time, so I just plunk them in a bowl of warm tap water while I get everything else ready. Five minutes and they’re perfect.

Don’t pack your flour down like you’re building a sandcastle. I used to really smush it in there and wondered why my bars were dense as rocks. Just scoop it in gently and level the top.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

I threw chopped apples from our backyard tree into a batch once and my husband ate half the pan that night. The apple pieces get all soft and sweet – way better than I expected.

Another time I let my butter get too brown on the stove (oops) but used it anyway. Holy cow, that nutty flavor was amazing. Now I brown it on purpose sometimes when I’m feeling fancy.

Make-Ahead Options

These get better sitting overnight on the counter. I found this out when I hid half a pan on top of the fridge and forgot about it for two days. Came back and they were even more delicious.

I cut them into individual squares and freeze them in freezer bags. My kids pull them out for lunch boxes and by the time lunch rolls around, they’re perfectly thawed.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

Your dough’s gonna look really thick, almost like cookie dough. Don’t panic and add milk or anything – it’s supposed to be that way. Make sure your melted butter isn’t super hot or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs in your cookie bars. Gross.

Serving Suggestions

My kids eat these plain as after-school snacks, but when I want to show off, I warm them up for ten seconds in the microwave and throw vanilla ice cream on top.

For my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday, I mixed up cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a splash of vanilla and drizzled it over the bars. She made me write down the recipe right there at the table.

These bars are gonna make your house smell like heaven, and your family will think you spent hours baking. Let me know how yours turn out – I love hearing about kitchen wins!

How to Store Your Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars

Keep them covered on your counter for up to five days (they never last that long at my house). Stick them in the fridge if your kitchen gets really hot – they’ll keep for a week.

Freeze individual bars wrapped in plastic wrap. They keep for months and taste just as good when they thaw out. Pop them in the microwave for 10 seconds if you want them warm.

Allergy Information

These have gluten (flour), eggs, and dairy (butter). My neighbor with celiac uses Cup4Cup gluten-free flour and says they taste exactly the same. For dairy-free, use whatever vegan butter you like – I’ve tried Earth Balance and it works fine.

No eggs? Use a quarter cup of applesauce for each egg. My sister does this because her youngest is allergic.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

Can I use salted butter?

Yeah, just don’t add the extra salt in the recipe. I use whatever butter’s on sale.

My bars turned out too soft/too hard – what happened?

Too soft means they needed a few more minutes in the oven. Too hard usually means too much flour or you baked them too long.

I don’t have cream of tartar

Lemon juice works – about 2 teaspoons. They’ll taste a little different but still good.

How do I know they’re done?

Press the middle lightly with your finger. If it springs back but still feels a tiny bit soft, they’re perfect.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! I love hearing about your baking adventures and any fun variations you try.