Every winter break, my high school marching band boarded five big charter buses and drove south for a trip. One year we participated in the Rose Parade; another two, we competed in the Fiesta Bowl marching band competition held the day before the football game.
On the way home from those big events, we always stopped at Disneyland. Our band director arranged for us to march down Main Street and weave around the rides, playing holiday tunes for all of the theme park guests to enjoy.
Before and after the parade, we ran around the park, standing in lines for Pirates of the Caribbean, screaming on the Matterhorn, and spinning wilding in circles on the Tea Cups.
We really worked up an appetite dashing between rides to fit in as many as we possibly could, so Disneyland kindly gave us each a $10 meal voucher in exchange for the parade. Most years, we spent it on the world’s best pizza from Pizza Port (that crust… ohmygosh it’s the softest and chewiest you’ll ever eat!), while a few kids branched out and bought turkey legs bigger than my head.
One year, we craved sugar and spent our entire vouchers at the Blue Ribbon Bakery and Candy Palace on Main Street. We watched the workers slicing fudge and dipping caramel apples, then browsed through the various lollipops and chocolates. But my favorites were always the brownies and cookies from the bakery, especially the snickerdoodles. They were incredibly soft and chewy… And bigger than my entire hand. I never shared!
When those memories resurfaced this past week while watching a commercial for Disneyland on TV, a fierce craving for snickerdoodles hit. As I pulled out the butter from the fridge and spotted the eggnog carton, I decided to make my own holiday variation and created these Eggnog Snickerdoodles instead!
They’re cookie #2 of Cookie Week on Amy’s Healthy Baking! We made rainbow chocolate chip cookies before—the butteriest healthy cookies you’ll ever try—and still to come are minty, spiced, and classic treats. Stay tuned!
My #1 Tip for these Eggnog Snickerdoodles is to make sure you measure the flour correctly. Use one of two options: a light hand with the spoon-and-level method or a kitchen scale. I highly recommend the latter! This is the inexpensive kitchen scale that I own, and I use it to make every recipe on this blog. It’s worth its weight in gold because it ensures that your baked goods turn out with the perfect taste and texture every time!
In these cookies, I completely replaced the eggs with eggnog. And then added a little bit more. I wanted to make sure you really tasted the festive drink! I actually tested these with Silk’s holiday nog, which is completely vegan friendly. If you go that route and replace the butter with Earth Balance Buttery Spread, these cookies are entirely vegan too. (And perfect for my brother who’s allergic to eggs!)
With ¼ cup of eggnog, the cookie dough is very wet, so chilling is mandatory. I’ve tried chilling for 30 minutes and for up to 2 hours. Either way, the cookie dough never fully stiffens, so rolling it is going to be a somewhat sticky affair.
My best advice? Use a spoon and spatula (or a cookie scoop!) to drop a rounded mound of cookie dough directly into the spiced sugar. Turn the cookie dough around until it’s covered; then roll it between your palms to shape it into a ball. That thin layer of sugar on the outside mostly prevents it from sticking to your hands.
Because I just love cinnamon and nutmeg, I dropped mine back into the sugar to roll again. Seriously you guys… Do the double roll! It creates a cute glittery coating on the cookies, and it adds a tiny crunchy touch, which beautifully complements the extra chewy insides.
I brought two dozen of these Eggnog Snickerdoodles to my guy’s family’s Thanksgiving dinner. As soon as I set them down, one of his uncles immediately grabbed three from the plate to much on while we waited for the turkey to rest.
I’m not the only one with no self-control around these… They’re that good!
And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your snickerdoodles and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
Eggnog Snickerdoodles | | Print |
- for the cookies
- 1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour (measured correctly)
- ¾ tsp cornstarch
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28) unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup (60mL) light or dairy-free eggnog, warmed to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (48g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (52g) light brown sugar
- for the coating
- 3 tbsp (36g) granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- To prepare the cookies, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggnog, and vanilla. Stir in the granulated and brown sugars. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until barely incorporated. Chill the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, or up to 3 hours. (If chilling longer than 3 hours, cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap to avoid letting it dry out.)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- To prepare the coating, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl.
- Using a spoon and spatula or a cookie scoop, drop one portion of cookie dough into rounded mounds in the bowl of spiced sugar. Rotate it until its fully coated; then roll it between your palms into a ball. Drop it back in the spiced sugar, coat again, and place on the prepared baking sheet. If the cookie dough was chilled longer than 1 hour, flatten the cookie dough balls slightly.
- Bake the cookies at 350°F for 9-12 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Make sure the eggnog is warmed to room temperature. Otherwise, it will quickly chill the melted butter and make it re-solidify. If this happens, microwave the mixture (in a microwave-safe bowl!) for 8-12 seconds, or until the butter re-melts.
For a vegan version, substitute Earth Balance Buttery Spread in place of the butter, and use holiday “nog” from Silk or So Delicious.
If the cookies did not spread while baking, there was too much flour in the dough. It's very important to measure the flour correctly using the spoon and level method or a kitchen scale. If the flour is scooped directly from the container using a measuring cup, you'll end up with 1.5 times as much flour in your cookie dough, which will make the cookies dry and cakey, as well as prevent the cookies from spreading.
If your cookie dough seems too dry in comparison the cookie dough in the video (in the blog post above the recipe), mix in additional eggnog 1 teaspoon at a time until your cookie dough resembles the texture of the cookie dough in the video after chilling. You can skip the chilling step and bake the cookies right away.
{vegan, low fat, low calorie}
More eggnog cookie recipes created by other food bloggers…
Soft and Chewy Eggnog Cookies by Life, Love & Sugar
Eggnog Cookies with Eggnog Glaze by Baked Bree
Eggnog Sugar Cookies by Crème de la Crumb
Melt-In-Your-Mouth Eggnog Cookies by Cooking Classy
Vivian Howard says...
Looking forward to making these. Since the recipe only makes 12 cookies, can the recipe be doubled or should it be made as written, and then made again?
Amy says...
I truly appreciate your interest in my recipe Vivian! You can double the recipe. No need to make it once as written, then made again! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these snickerdoodles!
Kathy says...
Can you freeze the cookies after cooking them?
Amy says...
I highly advise against freezing them after baking because of their cinnamon sugar coating! That turns into a mess when thawing them. 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of these snickerdoodles if you try them Kathy!
Mark Minner-Lee says...
Sorry we tried these twice and they were lifeless and uninspired. The flavor profile is weak and the texture way too thick for a Snickerdoodle. Maybe go back to the drawing board?
Amy says...
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Mark! That doesn’t sound like how these snickerdoodles are supposed to turn out, so I’d love to work with you to solve those issues. 🙂 How did you measure the flour? Did you use measuring cups or a kitchen scale? If the former, can you describe in detail how you measured? Also, was the texture of your cookie dough the same as in my video above the recipe during each stage of the Instructions?
Max says...
Does the eggnog need to be “light” or can we use regular? Thanks.
Amy says...
Regular eggnog is fine! I can’t wait to hear what you think of these snickerdoodles Max! 🙂
Erica says...
This cookie is so soft and chewy! I made it 2 years ago and everyone loved it! I just made them again and I forgot to warm the eggnog to room temperature! I didn’t realize until after baking them. They’re for a cookie exchange so I can’t taste them. Will they be ok, maybe a little dry? Please help!
Amy says...
I’m so honored that you baked these cookies again Erica! That means the world to me that you’d make them for a cookie exchange. 🙂 They should be okay! If they feel soft in your hands, then their flavor and texture should be just fine!
Erica says...
Thank you for your quick response! My friends loved the cookies! I have another question! I still have dough in the fridge from 12/8. Is it too late to bake it?
Amy says...
It’s my pleasure Erica! I’m not quite sure about the 10-day old cookie dough currently in your fridge… I think the best thing to do would be to smell it! If it smells even a teensy bit weird or rancid, I’d say it’s probably to late to bake. But if it smells fine and doesn’t have any visible mold or anything, it’s worth trying! 🙂
Rachel says...
Is it okay to freeze this dough or alternatively, leave it in the fridge raw for 3-5 days?
Amy says...
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Rachel! I don’t recommend freezing the dough; the cookies don’t turn out properly. I haven’t tried leaving the raw dough in the fridge for that long, so I’m not sure how that would work. However, you could easily whisk together just the first 6 ingredients (flour through salt) and put that in an airtight container ahead of time to save some time when you’d like to bake the cookies! (And you could do the same for the coating as well!) 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these snickerdoodles!
Mary says...
I made these and even though they didn’t spread much (must have used too much flour!) they were still absolutely delicious, soft, cake-like, and a huge hit at the office cookie swap! The east vegan swaps is what convinced me to make these for this picky crowd, and non-vegans couldn’t even tell. Great recipe!
Amy says...
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed these cookies Mary! That means the world to me that you’d bake them for your office cookie swap. Thank you for sharing that with me!!
If you’d like to make them spread in the future, then here’s what I recommend doing for measuring the flour to ensure there isn’t too much in your cookie dough! Use a fork to “scoop” up flour from the container, and lightly shake the fork back and forth over the top of your measuring cup to transfer the flour into it. Once there’s a small mound of flour extending past the rim of the measuring cup, then place the flat back of a knife against the top of the measuring cup, and gently scrape it across the top to get rid of the excess flour. Never “pat” the flour down with the knife or fork. This fork method acts like a sifter (without dirtying another dish!) and guarantees you’ll add less flour to the batter, so you’ll end up with soft and chewy snickerdoodles that spread. Does that make sense? 🙂
Susan Singer says...
Can the egg nog be alcoholic or should it be without? Just wondering how the cookies would taste with a little kick! Interested if anyone has tried or if the alcohol would effect the baking process… Looking forward to making these for a cookie exchange!
Amy says...
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Susan! I haven’t tried adding alcohol, so I personally don’t know how it’d turn out and don’t want to lead you astray. I’d love to hear what you think if you try these snickerdoodles, and I’m so honored that you’d consider making them for your cookie exchange! 🙂
Susan says...
I played it safe and didn’t use any alcohol in my cookies (too scared it may off set the recipe, since I’m too new to baking). I followed your recipe to a tee and made close to 70 cookies! Absolutely love the flavor of these and I even added a little eggnog glaze with some holiday sprinkles on top! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Amy says...
I’m so glad you love these cookies Susan! I think your idea of eggnog glaze with sprinkles sounds so fun and festive — perfect for the holidays! 🙂
Erin Francisco says...
Made these cookies with my pro baker boyfriend! He really helped me to understand how to make these taste great! They are in the oven right now and I can’t wait for them to get out! Really thankful for my boyfriend’s help! Wouldn’t have been able to do it without him!
Amy says...
That’s so sweet of your boyfriend to help Erin! I can’t wait to hear what you thought of these cookies! 🙂
Adrian says...
Looking forward to trying your eggnog snickerdoodles recipe. Would substituting Almond Breeze Nog for Silk Nog make a difference?
Amy says...
That substitution is fine! I’m excited to hear what you think of these cookies Adrian! 🙂
Jo says...
I literally just took these cookies out of the oven and they were. HORRIBLE . Too thick and the flavor of the Silk eggnog was not there. I will not be trying again….and yes I weighed the flour.
Amy says...
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Jo! That sounds disappointing and not like how the cookies should turn out at all, so I’d love to work with you to figure out what went wrong. Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section of the recipe? Did you weigh the butter and both sugars as well? How long did you chill the dough? Also, was your cookie dough the same texture as mine in the video at all stages of the recipe? Once I know all of that information, we should be able to solve those issues you experienced! 🙂