I love a good snickerdoodle but my main beef with them is that unless you have everything justttt right, they turn harder than a rock and I don’t like crunchy cookies.

So I found a hack that gives you a soft chewy bite guaranteed, every time. Turn them into bars. Making this snickerdoodle dough and then pressing it into a 9×13 baking sheet is the ultimate soft snickerdoodle secret and it hasn’t let me down yet.

The trick is to not overtake them because they will continue to bake once they come out of the oven and once they cool, the dough will settle and create the softest, chewiest bite. You have to trust the process with this one.

I fall-ified this recipe and added some of my apple butter and a few other yummy fall spices just to dress it up a little bit but if you want to make the original thing, just sub the apple butter for another egg and omit the nutmeg and allspice.

These might be my favorite go-to dessert to make around the house because they’re so easy to whip up and everyone loves them!

I hope you do too 🙂

Apple Butter Snickerdoodle Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup apple butter (or add an extra egg)
• 1 Tbs vanilla
• 2 Tbs white sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer) cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg, apple butter and vanilla and mix until combined.
5. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Transfer dough into prepared baking dish and flatten. (I find that lightly floured hands work best for this)
7. Combine white sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the dough.
8. Bake at 350 for about 20-22 min until just golden brown. The trick is to not overtake because they will continue to bake out of the oven and once they cool the dough will settle.
9. Allow snickerdoodle bars to cool and cut into bars and enjoy!