Get ready for the soft, sweet, cinnamon-coated bite of your cookie dreams with this easy chewy snickerdoodle recipe!
Cinnamon sugar is basically cookie fairy dust. It makes everything more magical and delicious, especially if you’re a cinnamon addict like me and my friend Rebecca. When I’m not developing a blog recipe but just baking for myself to eat, I usually just hold the cinnamon shaker upside down over the bowl and shake it for a solid 7 seconds at least!
Why is it cookie fairy dust? I think it has something to do with the spice-sweet balance, not to mention it gets all over your fingers and licking them is practically mandatory. And if you make it with coconut sugar like I did, then the cookie-nibbling and finger-licking will feel a little more healthful and wholesome.
I almost said “These little cookies are entirely fruit-sweetened!” but then I remembered that the cinnamon sugar coating has sugar in it, duh! But everything underneath the cinnamon sugar coating is fruit-sweetened. Not to mention moist and chewy and perfect. I know oil-free cookies can sometimes be really, really dry, but I guarantee that this chewy snickerdoodle recipe does not suffer from that healthy cookie curse.
I had a video. A video that perfectly captured the dough mixing, the cookie rolling, the sugar coating of this chewy snickerdoodle recipe. But I lost it. Somewhere between lugging all my photo equipment home to my parents house, backing up and erasing my entire hard drive because I kept running out of storage space on my laptop, and accidentally hitting the format card button on my camera thinking the clips were on my computer, it disappeared into the black hole that is that little trashcan icon. I was sad, but fortunately the cookies themselves survived the trip, as did these photos!
To make up for the videoless-ness, I do have a super special chilly treat coming up later this week featuring these cinna-sweet cookies. So bake a batch now and be ice-cream-recipe ready!
> Click Below To Pin <<<
Prep Time:
Yield:
Print
PinIngredients
- 8 pitted Medjool dates
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon (or less if you don’t like super cinnamon-y things)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- SUGAR COATING
- 2 tbsps coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Blend all the cookie ingredients together in a food processor until it starts to clump together. Don’t over process.
- Roll into 10 balls.
- Mix together the coconut sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll each ball in the sugar to coat all sides
- Arrange the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Press the balls into cookie shapes (they will not spread much on their own).
- Bake for 10-11 minutes at 350 F.
- They are delicious warm, but keep any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Silly fact: When I was little, I confused the words Shrinky Dink (those weird 90s craft things) and Snickerdoodles, so for a while I thought Snickerdoodles were an art project not a cookie.
Making these today!! NO DOUBT. They look amazing.
DO IT!!! Let me know how they turn out 🙂
Shrinky Dink and Snikerdoodle? Hahahahahaha! (Girl, that thing was the bomb though!)
And…YES I might as well just pour the whole cinnamon bottle into the bowl 😛
But these are my kinda cookie! When I make cookies they are like this, soft chewy and just….perfect!
I think you need to ship me some though…..since you don’t have a video! Damn…I want a snickerdoodle baking video! Hahahahaha 😉 XOXOXO
Well I better get Snickerdoodling pronto if I owe everyone a box to make up for the lack of video!!! Hahaha, or maybe just you 🙂 But the clip of the sugar sprinkling was pretty epic, I’m not sure even an entire batch of cookies can make up for it. lol Although they are pretty darn soft and chewy!
OMG when I was linking to your site I searched ‘cinnamon’ and the results went on for 16 pages!!! That is some serious spice dedication girl, I love your style <3 xoxo
Really!? Omg…I think it’s time to rename the blog….cinnamon and sunshine 😉
Oh I love how you transformed snickerdoodles into a oil free, fruity dream! I didn’t expect them to be so super simple to make, that’s awesome! I’m a huge cinnamon addict too – I add it everywhere and seriously have to stop myself from putting it in every single recipe I make. 😀
I didn’t expect them to be so easy either! I love when simplicity surprises me 🙂 The cinnamon addiction is real, I often reduce the amount when I’m writing the recipe because I know that not everyone feels the same way 😀 haha But for my own cookies I go crazy!!
I LOVE snickerdoodles! One of my favorite cookies of all-time! Because they contain my favorite flavor of all-time, CINNAMON!! These are so pretty, look so moist and I love how healthy they are! These would be great crumbled over ice cream as well, oh my gosh! Amazing!
Yes!!! Another fellow cinnamon lover <3 They are really moist and tasty! You read my mind on the ice cream idea, that's why I have an ice cream + snickerdoodle recipe coming up later this week! (It's partially inspired by you too!)
I’m dying about the Shrinky Dink / Snickerdoodle confusion. SO funny! Ok, but seriously….these look amazing. The cinnamon-coconut sugar combo is the BEST! I have all the ingredients to make these, so I’m super excited. That’s a bummer about the video, but you’re really making up for that 😉
Thanks Mandy! I honestly think coconut sugar is better in snickerdoodles than the traditional white sugar ever was! And in the end, I think ice cream > video anyways 🙂
Natalie! These were SO good!!! We whipped these up after an early dinner and enjoyed them with some cashew milk ice cream. Thumbs up from everyone…especially Willow! I love how quick and easy these were to make – and the ingredient list is short and sweet – my kind of recipe. Definitely a cinnamon lover’s dream! <3
★★★★★
I still can’t believe you made 2 recipes in one day! Gotta take advantage of the parent’s AC while you got it I suppose 😉 The ice cream combo sounds so good, that cashew milk stuff is the bomb! And if they pass the Willow test than my work here is done 🙂
om nom nom! They turned out great!! and they really taste like the real deal (and even better than the super expensive bag of gf snickerdoodles that I bought the other day) Keep up the great work!!
Wow you already made them!?! You are awesome Ana, and such a speedy cookie baker! I’ve totally splurged on the overpriced vegan and gf cookies before and they are always a little disappointing…but that doesn’t stop me from doing it again a few months later once I’ve forgotten 😀 haha I’m glad you liked these homemade ones, and thank you for the great feedback 🙂
I so need these in my life!! I love that I always have every ingredient for your recipes already on hand. I definitely need to make these before you share the chilly treat because I know I’m going to be swooning over whatever it is!
Either we have fairly similar tastes, or you just always have a very well stocked pantry and fridge! 😉 haha I’m already swooning over your most recent ice cream creation (although I don’t think lemon and snickerdoodles would be very good together). We must make the most of summer with as many ice cream recipes as possible!
Logan (the boyfriend) is going to flip his socks when I make these for him. He LOVES snickerdoodles. But they are such butter and sugar extremists that we don’t make them ever. So I cannot wait to fill the hole in his heart with these 😉 Yay!
Aww that makes me so happy just reading it!!!! You’re going to be the best girlfriend ever! Healthy cookies are the way to anyone’s heart I think 🙂
I shamefully have never tried a snickerdoodle cookie.. here in Australia they aren’t available! Definitely inspired to try out this recipe – I love how healthy it is.
★★★★★
Wow really!?! I didn’t try them till I was probably like 15 or something, my mom never made them, so don’t feel too bad. Pretty much just a simple cookie and a lot of cinnamon sugar 😀 haha These may not be the most classic interpretation, but they are really delicious and cinnamon-y and healthy! Thanks Thalia 🙂
I so gotta try these! They just sound incredible, Natalie! 🙂 I know what I’m making tomorrow.!
Thanks Sina! So I take it you are a cinnamon lover too 😉 Can’t wait to hear how they turn out!
I am oohing and aaahing over hese photos, Natalie! They look so chewy but soft at the same time! And I couldn’t agree more – I LOVE a cinnamon sugar coating on ALL my cookies! Hehe, it IS like a magic fairy dust! Love this recipe 🙂
Thank you Ceara! Your comment made me think of trying cinnamon sugar on chocolate cookies…that may have to happen…soon 🙂
*gasps* wow!!! These look sooooo amazing, I can’t believe they’re oil and gluten free! They look so moist! I’ve always wanted to try snickerdoodles, and I can’t believe I still haven’t. I’m definitely going to have to make these so I can finally try one. I can already tell I’m going to love them!
★★★★★
You’ve never had snickerdoodles! Now I’m gasping! It’s kinda like me and the whole banoffee situation I discovered after seeing your decadent Sundae. We need to trade desserts 🙂
You know I always say it, but these are so perfect for the kiddos! My littlest one loves cinnamon(and I do too) so she would absolutely love these
It seems to me that your kids have very good tastes 😉
lol on the Shrinky Dink and Snikerdoodle! 🙂
So finally made my way over to see what’s in these babies and it’s as I suspected — they’re full of genius! ♥ You know you inspired me to give coconut sugar a try again — I got some on a whim after seeing you use it in things like this, but haven’t gotten around to actually doing anything with it. Coincidentally, I think the last time I did was years ago and in a snickerdoodles recipe! 🙂
About that video, have you looked at recovery options? I delete stuff like that regularly {dessert brain syndrome?! 😉 }. My husband has a wonderful way of pulling my photos back out of oblivion. Maybe it’s not beyond hope to find that footage again…
Thank you Audrey! I think coconut sugar was probably invented for snickerdoodles so that makes sense 😉 But you need to start putting it in everything! Lol, dessert brain syndrome 😀 I haven’t thought about how to recover it, I completely formatted the card so I figured it was gone for good, but I’ll do some googling on the subject, thanks for the idea!
Just made these little guys with my roommate. WOW! They are amazing! Thanks for the recipe, Natalie!
★★★★★
Thank you Maddy, that makes me so happy to hear!!! Snickerdoodle-making and munching with friends sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Saturday 🙂
Oil free, homemade snickerdoodles, it doesn’t get much better than that! Snickerdoodles are the best, but they, like many cookies,, do often have oil and higher fat content. So, thanks for sharing this recipe!
You are so very welcome! I love oil free baking mostly because it means more cookie eating 🙂 These are some of my favorites, because I’m a bit of a cinnamon freak ha! Hope you try them!
Soft, chewy, heavenly, everything about these cookies is amazing. These were a great Christmas treat. Nice job on the recipe!
Thank you Miles, I’m so happy you enjoyed them 🙂 Happy (early) holidays to you!
These were great thanks!! Shared it on my blog as well 🙂
★★★★
I’m so glad you liked them!!
I just made them and they are absolutely amazing! So crunchy! My favorite hclf cookie recipe by far! Thanks so much for sharing!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you like them Mary! They are still one of my favorites too 🙂
These are delicious! And they were very easy to make. I made a whole bunch of mini cookies because I wasn’t sure how big they were supposed to be. Will definitely be making them again! Thanks!
I’m so happy you liked them!! Mini cookies sound adorable, plus that means you can have more at one time 🙂 Thanks for the feedback Bex!
These are amazing! I really need to stop being so surprised when I make one of your recipes and it (of course) turns out delicious 🙂
YAY!! Haha the pulling a new recipe out of the oven excitement never wears off for me, so I think being surprised every time is just part of the fun 🙂 Thanks Hayley!
These look great but I don’t have a food processor. Is there a way to substitute date sugar for pitted dates or oat flour for the rolled oats? If yes, do you know what the measurements would be?
Oat flour for the rolled oats will work fine, although I would suggest decreasing the amount to 1 cup. As for the dates, perhaps just increase the applesauce to make up for the date moisture along with date sugar or coconut sugar for sweetness. These are estimates, but about 2/3 cup applesauce and 1/4-1/3 cup sugar should be good 🙂
I love cinnamon sweets – especially with warm apples – so these snickerdoodles seem to be perfect for me! 😀
The only “problem” I have is that I am not used to measure in “cups” but rather in grams – and when I tried to calculate the ingredients with the help of some internet-pages every page has different information of how much 1 cup of the same ingredient is… 🙁
Would you be so kind to tell me how many grams of the ingredients I would need to bake these snickerdoodles? It would be sufficient to give me the information for 1 cup of each ingredient and from there I can calculate the exact amount of the ingredients myself.
Thanks a lot in advance!
Eh, me again…
I just checked the receipe again and saw that I would only need the grams for the rolled oates, the apple sauce and perhaps for the sugar (in case I would want to replace the dates with brown sugar and plant-milk, e.g. if dates are not available).
The other ingredients measurements are in tsp and TBsp which is okay because I am used to those.
If it was easier for you to tell me how many TBsp are in 1 cup of the above mentioned ingredients than measuring them with a scale, that would also be sufficient – I can calculate the grams from that information myself.
I am really looking forward to trying these snickerdoodles – they sound sooo delicious! 😀
Hi Kerstin! Unfortunately I don’t bake by weight measurements, so I don’t know the gram amounts for everything here. I just use google to convert when necessary, but some ingredients can be hard to find. But I can tell you that 1 cup = 16 tablespoons, so perhaps with that info you can figure out the conversions for those 3 ingredients? So that would be 4 tbsp of applesauce and 20 tbsp of rolled oats. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much, it helped a LOT!
Can’t wait trying out the receipe – so I will probably stay up late tonight… 😀
Hehe love it! Happy after dark baking😊
These cookies were absolutely amazing! I baked them late in the evening and they only lasted till the next morning because I wanted my husband to taste them as well. 😀
I tried out different sizes (big and thin, small and thin, big and thick, small and thick) and also the difference between “a ball rolled in the coating” and “a formed cookie pressed into the coating” (with one side and with both sides), and it was quite interesting to taste the different results – we liked them all and preferred the small thin ones: chewy enough but not too much dough so the tasty coasting has more “presence”.
Concerning the handling it was easier to form the cookies first so my fingers did not get too sticky and it was quicker done (but that might just have been caused by not being used to roll dough in a coating).
I hope to find some time at the weekend to try out the version without dates (as was asked in one of the previous comments) just in case I cannot get some but would not want to do without the cookies. 😀
So thanks again for this great receipe and for your effort concerning the measuring with spoons!
Yay!! I am so so happy to hear that they were a success Kerstin, gone in less than 24 hours is always a good sign😊 That’s so interesting about the different shapes/coating methods. But makes sense because smaller cookies will have more of that delicious cinnamon sugar coating per bite and better texture throughout too. Thanks for the feedback and I hope the date-free version goes just as well!
Here comes another feedback: I tried the receipe without dates and instead took the amounts of additional applesauce and raw brown sugar as you have mentioned further up – and then I had to use the double amount of rolled oates to get the dough at least a bit shapeable. 😀
In the end I had 57 small cookies (ca. 3 cm) on two trays and baked them with hot air (160°C) for 15 minutes because the dough was quite moist – the result is sooooo delicious!!!
And we cannot eat too many of them at once becaue silly me forgot that the applesauce has already been sweetened with raw sugar and therefore the cookies are quite sweet… But even the better – the longer we can enjoy them! 😀
It is 2:00 a.m. now and I really have to go to bed – okay, perhaps just one more cookie… 🙂
★★★★★
Hehe just getting a jump start on breakfast cookie style 🙂 I am so happy the date-free version worked–that is great to know! Mmmm sweet but so good I bet, and cute too considering how many little cookies you got. Thank you for all the feedback, I love hearing about other people’s tweaks experiments!
Yes, experimenting is fun – but would not work without the prior inspiration of the original receipe; so many thanks for that!!! 😀
★★★★★
Always happy to inspire 🙂
These look good! I’ve actually never seen a snickerdoodle, or eaten one but I think this recipe is a must try! I can’t get coconut sugar where I live, could I sub brown sugar?
Really!?! Oh well if you like cinnamon they are just heavenly, definitely worth trying soon🤗 And yes, brown sugar will be just fine here!