This small-batch air fryer snickerdoodle cookies recipe makes 2 giant cookies in minutes with just one bowl. Classic snickerdoodle flavor with cream of tartar and cinnamon sugar coating, soft and gooey centers, and crispy edges. One for you and one to share – the perfect bedtime snack!
I’ve mentioned before that Chad and I have been on a ‘just one cookie before bed’ routine for a bit now. It’s honestly pretty great. Our air fryer oatmeal cookie recipe has been on serious repeat.
We settle in to watch TV together and wind down, I start thinking about having a little sweet treat, convince him that we really need a cookie, and then one of us hops up and air fries 2 giant cookies in practically no time. If there were commercial breaks these days, I’d have the cookies mixed, shaped, and in the air fryer during the commercial break, that’s how quick they are!
Of course, you do have to wait 20-30 minutes to let the cookies cool (they’ll fall apart otherwise), but it just builds anticipation and gets you excited for the glorious cookie situation you’re about to experience.
Lately we’ve been branching out from oatmeal cookies. Now we’re on a snickerdoodle kick. That crackly cinnamon sugar topping, the tangy soft centers, the crispy edges. Oh, these are snickerdoodles worth making and they couldn’t be easier.
3 Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- No waiting for the oven to preheat. The air fryer is ready in minutes, and you’re not heating up your whole kitchen for two cookies. This is huge in the summer or when you just want a quick dessert.
- Giant cookies, small batch. Two massive cookies is the perfect amount for a treat without having dozens sitting around tempting you all week. Besides, you get to make another batch tomorrow and they’ll perfect warm and soft and fresh.
- Super quick and easy. From pulling out ingredients to eating a warm cookie, you’re looking at 25 minutes total. The actual hands-on time is maybe 10 minutes, and cleanup is just one bowl and a fork.
Ingredient Notes:
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Wet Ingredients – For the wet cookie dough ingredients you’ll need some melted butter, an egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Love starting with melted butter so you don’t have to worry about perfectly softening it. Just melt it and be done!
Dry Ingredients – The dry ingredients include flour, cornstarch (for softness), baking soda salt, sugar, and cinnamon! You’ll roll the cookie dough balls in the sugar and cinnamon to get the perfect exterior.
Cream of Tartar – It’s what gives snickerdoodle cookies their distinctive tangy taste and chewy texture. It also is the acid that reacts with the baking soda, making the cookies rise in the air fryer.
How to Make Air Fryer Snickerdoodle Cookies:
Melt the butter and add it to a mixing bowl along with the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Stir well to combine.
Add in the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt and combine. Stir to form a dough.
Form the cookie dough into two balls. Roll the balls of dough through a mixture of cinnamon and sugar to coat.
Flatten the cookie dough lightly and place the balls on a sheet of air fryer parchment paper with a couple of inches in between. Air fry at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Let them cool in the basket for at least 20 minutes before handling so they can firm up.
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Storage:
Room temperature: Keep them in your cookie jar for up to 5 days.
Refrigerator: Don’t refrigerate these. They’ll dry out and lose that fresh-baked texture.
Freezer: You can freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to bake, roll them in cinnamon sugar and air fry straight from frozen. Add an extra 2 minutes to the cooking time.
Reheating: If they’ve been sitting out and you want to refresh them, pop them back in the air fryer at 300°F for about a minute. Brings back some of that fresh-baked warmth.
FAQ:
We tested this extensively and while you can, we don’t super recommend it. The outside starts to get a little too browned and crispy before the center cooks enough. If you want to try it, I’d recommend air fryer for 7 minutes and really letting the cookie cool so that the center has time to firm up.
If you want that classic tangy flavor of a snickerdoodle, you really do need cream of tartar. If you don’t have any on hand, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder to the mixture.
Yes, for this recipe you’ll really want parchment paper. It’ll help keep the cookie from sticking to the basket and also make it much easier to remove your cookies from the air fryer basket.
Recipe Tips!
If your parchment paper curls and shifts your cookie shape you can place a bowl (or large glass) just slightly larger than the cookie over the top and swirl it in a circle to reshape. Perfectly round every time!
These cookies are supposed to be gooey in the middle! If you prefer a firmer cookie you can add another minute or so to the cook time. The edges will brown up a bit more.
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