snickerdoodle

noun

snick·​er·​doo·​dle ˈsni-kər-ˌdü-dᵊl 

plural snickerdoodles

: a cookie that is made with usually butter, sugar, and flour and that is rolled in cinnamon sugar before baking

Examples of snickerdoodle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Unlike snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies that begin to turn golden, these sugar cookies will remain pretty pale. —Karla Walsh, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Dec. 2024

Bring the seasonal flavors of eggnog to the soft, chewy classic snickerdoodle cookie. —Catherine Jessee, Southern Living, 10 Dec. 2024

These cookies take the always lovable snickerdoodle base and elevate it by adding a crunchy texture and a unique almond flavor. —Kayla Samoy, Chicago Tribune, 4 Dec. 2024

Chocolate chip, lucky in Kentucky, nutty chocolate, oatmeal, peanut butter, pumpkin chocolate chip, pumpkin raisin, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, and white chocolate. —Gege Reed, The Courier-Journal, 4 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably a fanciful coinage, from snicker entry 2 + doodle "doodlebug" (though without clear semantic connection to either word)

Note: An alternative etymology derives the word from Palatinate German dialect Schneckennudel, Scheckennurel, Schleckenu^rrl "sweet pastry made from yeast dough twisted into a spiral" (from Schnecken "snail" and Nudel "dough in various forms"), with variants in other dialects (Baden, Swabia, Saarland). However, none of these words appear to have surfaced in 19th-century American English, and early attestations of snickerdoodle do not suggest a German-American connection.

First Known Use

1889, in the meaning defined above