I Can’t Stop Making Bon Appétit’s Snickerdoodle Cookies

This month, we’re baking off some of the most popular snickerdoodle recipes in search of the very best. As I began narrowing down the contenders, I knew I had to include Bon Appétit’s recipe. That’s because it lives as part of their recipe column called BA’s Best, in which their editors test and tweak classic recipes many times over to come up with a winning version.

I’ve cooked a few recipes from this series and can attest that they deliver — although they often call for unusual or hard-to-find ingredients, or require adding an extra step to the cooking process. In the case of snickerdoodles, the recipe calls for two unlikely ingredients, which immediately piqued my interest. Here’s what happened when I got in the kitchen.

Get the recipe: BA’s Best Snickerdoodles

Unlike the other snickerdoodles I made for this showdown, Bon Appétit’s calls for light brown sugar (in addition to the granulated sugar) and vanilla bean. It also calls for resting the dough at room temperature to hydrate the flour.

You’ll begin by melting a couple of sticks of unsalted butter and setting it aside to cool slightly. You’ll then whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and beat the melted butter with the granulated and brown sugars in a second, larger bowl. Add the vanilla bean seeds and a couple of large eggs and beat for three long minutes before gradually adding the dry ingredients. The dough will rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to hydrate the flour, during which time the dough also thickens.

While the dough rests, you’ll stir together a two-to-one ratio of granulated sugar to ground cinnamon for the cookie coating. You’ll scoop out heaping tablespoon portions of dough, shape them into balls, and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. The cookies are baked on parchment-lined baking sheets until the edges are lightly browned and the centers are puffed and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. They’re then cooled for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Let me cut right to the chase: This cookie truly lives up to its name. BA’s Best Snickerdoodles really are the best! They’re everything I want (and expect!) in a really good snickerdoodle, both in flavor and texture. This recipe is officially my new go-to.

Let’s talk about the flavor. Not only is there ample cinnamon-sugar coating on every cookie, but the cinnamon also adds the tiniest hint of spice that balances the sweetness of the cookies really well. The vanilla bean is a nice addition that makes these blissfully buttery cookies feel a little extra special without overwhelming the other flavors. The recipe also calls for more salt than most (3/4 teaspoon kosher salt), which also contributes to these cookies’ well-balanced taste.

There’s just as much to love about the texture, which is wonderfully soft and light. They’re the thinnest cookies of the bunch, with crackly tops, crisp edges, and soft centers. They strike just the right balance of chewy and cakey.

1. Remember to melt the butter before doing anything else. This is another reminder to read a recipe all the way through before getting started. The instructions assume the butter has been melted and cooled before you begin, so go ahead and do this first.

2. You can swap the vanilla bean for extract. If you don’t have a vanilla bean in the baking cabinet or don’t want to shell out the extra cash for it, that’s okay. While it’s a nice addition to the cookie, you’ll still get a really delicious result by using 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract instead.

3. Stagger the cookie dough on the baking sheet. These cookies spread a lot — each baked cookie is about 3 inches wide. Be sure to space the balls of cookie dough at least 3 inches apart on the baking sheet, and stagger them for extra insurance.

Rating: 9.5/10
The only reason this recipe didn’t receive a perfect 10 is that the vanilla bean seems like a pricey ask for a classic snickerdoodle. While it did make these feel special, I think you could achieve nearly identical results with extract.

Have you ever made BA’s Best Snickerdoodles? Tell us what you thought!