It’s Day 9 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Series! Everyone loves a snickerdoodle, and I love shortbread cookies, so I combined the two into these rich and buttery high altitude Snickerdoodle Shortbread Cookies. I started with brown sugar shortbread cookie dough, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and pressed the dough with waffle cookie stamps for a gorgeous presentation. These cookies are crisp around the edges with a chewy center, and just so pretty for the holidays. A shower of cinnamon and sugar on top is the perfect crunchy finish!
Looking for more high altitude snickerdoodle recipes? Don’t miss these soft and chewy snickerdoodles, snickerdoodle cake, and snickerdoodle muffins.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
The Taste of a Classic Snickerdoodle. Classic snickerdoodle cookies are a type of sugar cookie that are coated in cinnamon and sugar before baking. They’re soft, fluffy cookies that taste like butter and cinnamon, with an iconic tangy flavor from the addition of cream of tartar. Today’s snickerdoodle shortbread cookies have a higher ratio of butter to flour, giving them a richer, denser, more buttery flavor and texture, with crisp edges and chewy centers. If you love snickerdoodles and shortbread cookies, you’ll love this combination of the two.
So Pretty Pressed with Cookie Stamps. I used one of my Nordic Ware cookie stamps that looks like a waffle pattern, which looks beautiful and is perfect for catching all the cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. You can buy the cookie stamps here. While these look a bit like Stroopwafels, another favorite holiday cookie of mine, they’re not nearly as thin and chewy, and they don’t have a filling like Stroopwafels do.
Perfect for the Holidays. With dough that you can make in advance and cookies that can be frozen until the holidays, these make a perfect addition to a Christmas cookie box.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients and Tools
- All-Purpose Flour. The flour strengthens the dough and provides structure.
- Powdered Sugar + Light Brown Sugar. I usually use only powdered sugar in my shortbread cookie dough, but the addition of a little brown sugar adds a deeper flavor to these snickerdoodle shortbread cookies.
- Cream of Tartar. Cream of Tartar adds the iconic tangy flavor that snickerdoodles are known for.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Cinnamon + Nutmeg. In addition to cinnamon, I added freshly grated nutmeg. Feel free to leave out the nutmeg if you don’t like it.
- Unsalted Butter. Butter adds moisture and richness to shortbread cookies.
- Vanilla Extract. Use a good-quality vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Milk. Moistens the dough, binding it together.
- Cinnamon Sugar Mixture. For sprinkling on top of the baked cookies.
- Cookie Stamps. To make my snickerdoodle shortbread cookies look extra special, I pressed them with one of the stamps from the Nordic Ware Heirloom Cookie Stamps set. All the grooves in the pattern are perfect for catching a shower of cinnamon and sugar. You can certainly make this recipe without the stamps, though.
TIP: Shortbread dough is quick and easy to make in the food processor, and I love how it evenly disperses the butter throughout the flour and sugar, before adding the liquid to bind the dough together. But if you don’t have a food processor, you can certainly make the dough using a pastry cutter and your hands.
Instructions
Make the dough.
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, brown sugar, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined. If making the dough without a food processor, whisk the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- With the food processor running, drop the butter in a few pieces at a time, and pulse until the butter is evenly dispersed. If making the dough without a food processor, use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients by hand until very small pieces of butter remain, and the mixture resembles damp sand.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, and run the food processor just until the mixture starts to clump together into a ball of dough.
- Dump the mixture out onto a clean work surface, and gather together any floury bits left; knead the dough 3-4 times to make sure everything is well incorporated, and the dough is smooth and supple. If making the dough without a food processor, use your hands to gather the dough together, kneading it quickly to work the moisture into the flour, until it comes together into a smooth, supple dough.
Shape and chill the cookies.
- Divide the dough into 22 equal portions. They should be as close in size as possible, so it’s helpful if you have a food scale, to weigh the dough, then weigh each portion so they’re uniform in size. Roll each portion between your hands to shape a ball, and lightly dust each ball of dough in flour. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Dip a cookie stamp in flour, then tap off the excess. Center the stamp over a ball of dough, then firmly press down on the dough, until it flattens and spreads out all the way to the edge of the stamp. Carefully pull the dough off the stamp and set onto the baking sheet. Use a round cookie cutter that’s slightly smaller than the cookie stamp to cut the pressed cookie and trim off the uneven edges. Save the scraps. Repeat pressing all the cookies, dipping the stamp in flour and tapping off the excess in between each.
- Gather up all the scraps from the trimmed edges, roll into a ball, dust in flour, and press two more cookies, for a total of 24 cookies. Place all the pressed cookies about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the cookies 1 1/2 inches apart. Freeze the cookies on the baking sheet for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for 1 hour.
Bake the cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the chilled cookies for 10-12 minutes. To tell if the cookies are done, very carefully turn one cookie over (they’re fragile while hot). If the cookie looks damp or under-baked on the bottom, then bake them for a couple more minutes.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sprinkle the cookies with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cookie stamp did you use?
This is a stamp from the Nordic Ware Heirloom collection.
Can I make the cookie dough in advance?
The dough can be made in advance, wrapped well, and refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen for 3-6 months.
Can these cookies be frozen?
Leftover cookies should be stored in an airtight container for 7-10 days, or frozen for 3-6 months.
You Might Also Like
Snickerdoodle Muffins Snickerdoodles Snickerdoodle Cake Stamped Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
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Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Stamped Snickerdoodle Shortbread Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (325g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup (70g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (80g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup (226g) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons (16 pieces)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp (33ml) milk
- cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling (1/4 cup granulated sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon)
Instructions
- In your food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, brown sugar, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined.If making the dough without a food processor, whisk the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- With the food processor running, drop the butter in a few pieces at a time, and pulse until the butter is evenly dispersed.If making the dough without a food processor, use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients by hand until very small pieces of butter remain, and the mixture resembles damp sand.
- Add the vanilla and the milk, and run the food processor just until the mixture starts to clump together into a ball of dough. Dump the mixture out onto a clean work surface, and gather together any floury bits left; knead the dough 3-4 times to make sure everything is well incorporated, and the dough is smooth and supple.If making the dough without a food processor, use your hands to gather the dough together, kneading it quickly to work the moisture into the flour, until it comes together into a smooth, supple dough.
- Divide the dough into 22 equal portions. They should be as close in size as possible, so it's helpful if you have a food scale, to weigh the dough, then weigh each portion so they're uniform in size.Roll each portion between your hands to shape a ball, and lightly dust each ball of dough in flour.Place the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Dip a cookie stamp in flour, then tap off the excess. Center the stamp over a ball of dough, then firmly press down on the dough, until it flattens and spreads out all the way to the edge of the stamp. Carefully pull the dough off the stamp and set onto the baking sheet.Use a round cookie cutter that's slightly smaller than the cookie stamp to cut the pressed cookie and trim off the uneven edges. Save the scraps.Repeat pressing all the cookies, dipping the stamp in flour and tapping off the excess in between each.
- Gather up all the scraps from the trimmed edges, roll into a ball, dust in flour, and press two more cookies, for a total of 24 cookies.Place all the pressed cookies about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the cookies 1 1/2 inches apart. Freeze the cookies on the baking sheet for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350.Bake the chilled cookies for 10-12 minutes. To tell if the cookies are done, very carefully turn one cookie over (they're fragile while hot). If the cookie looks damp or under-baked on the bottom, then bake them for a couple more minutes.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sprinkle the cookies with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Notes
- Make in Advance: The dough can be made in advance, wrapped well, and refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen for 3-6 months.
- Storing: Leftover cookies should be stored in an airtight container for 7-10 days, or frozen for 3-6 months.
Boulder baker here and appreciate the higher altitude recipes! These turned out fantastic and this snickerdoodle loving family says thumbs up.
I’m so glad to hear it!
Dough turned out well using food processor. Got exactly 22 cookies. I’ve been using Geo stamps from Nordic Ware for a few years with a variety of spiced and chocolate doughs. This is a nice change. FREEZE the stamp before using- it makes all the difference. No need for parchment as they are easier to stamp directly on baking sheet with no flour needed, no transferring necessary and they come off the baking sheet perfectly. Baked Convection 325 degrees 11-12minutes. In Raleigh,NC with no altitude issues. Dusted with 10x & cinnamon after 10 min cool time. Great recipe!!!! Thx for sharing!
Thanks for the tip about freezing the stamp first!