When I was little, my mom used to make the cookie dough for snickerdoodles and let me roll each pillow of dough into the cinnamon sugar. As they baked, the scents of fresh cookies and cinnamon sugar wafted through the kitchen, making it smell like heaven. These snickerdoodle bars make your kitchen smell amazing too, but they’re even easier to make since you don’t have to portion out the dough!
These soft and chewy snickerdoodle bars are rich with toasty notes of caramelized brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon. To amp up the flavor even more, we use brown butter for a caramel-y nuttiness and add a bit extra vanilla. You’re going to love these, and they’re quick to whip up too! Just make the batter, sprinkle on a bit of cinnamon sugar, and bake! Easy as that.
tips for success
- Be generous with the cinnamon sugar! – The dusting of cinnamon sugar on top is what makes these snickerdoodle bars. So, don’t shy away from sprinkling it on because a nice, generous layer of cinnamon sugar results in a caramelized, irresistible top.
- That’s it! Seriously, this recipe is so easy; it’s hard to mess it up.
Can’t resist a snickerdoodle? Then try out my brown butter toffee snickerdoodles! They’re just as delicious, with the addition of toffee!
brown butter snickerdoodle bars
makes one 8 by 8 pan
ingredients:
- for the batter
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup (150 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg, room temperature
- for the cinnamon sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8 by 8 square inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the butter. If you’ve never made brown butter before, here’s how: melt the butter over medium-high heat. Continuously stir the butter with a silicone spatula (this is key – just keep stirring so it doesn’t burn!). The butter will ‘sizzle’ and eventually foam. Keep stirring until you see several brown specks form in the butter (this takes a couple of minutes). When the sizzling dies down, the butter is done.
- Transfer the brown butter to a large mixing bowl and let cool until only slightly warm. While the butter is cooling, prepare your dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl by whisking the flour, baking powder, and salt together until well-combined. Set aside.
- Add the granulated and light brown sugar to the brown butter, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla extract and egg until incorporated, and then fold in your dry ingredients from step 3 until just combined. It should be a thick batter.
- Smooth out the batter into a thin layer in the prepared baking pan. In a small bowl, mix together the 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and cinnamon. Generously sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the batter, and bake for 20-23 minutes.
- Let cool, and slice into bars of your desired size.