By Vaughn Vreeland
- Total Time
- About 45 minutes
- Rating
- 5(3,090)
- Notes
- Read community notes
These pillowy, festive cookies are great to have in your back pocket when you’re in the mood for a quick holiday treat. Rum extract, widely available during the holidays, is the secret to replicating that classic eggnog flavor. An extra egg yolk in the dough and a dusting of nutmeg-sugar yield a cookie that’s custard-like on the inside and crisp on the outside. These are even better the second day, and keep very well in an airtight container at room temperature. This season, forgo the eggnog altogether and enjoy these cookies with a bourbon neat.(Watch Vaughn Vreeland make his Eggnog Snickerdoodles.)
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Ingredients
Yield:24 cookies
- 3½cups/445 grams all-purpose flour
- 1½teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- 1cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
- 1¾cup/350 grams granulated sugar, plus ¼ cup/50 grams for rolling
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 1large egg plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
- 1tablespoon rum extract
- 2teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (24 servings)
205 calories; 8 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 31 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 17 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 111 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Step
1
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda, and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, 1¾ cups sugar and the salt on medium-high until very smooth and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
Step
2
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, return the mixer to medium speed and add the egg and egg yolks, incorporating each before adding the next. Add the rum extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to beat for another minute or two.
Step
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Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. (You may want to start by “pulsing” the flour, so that it doesn’t go everywhere.) Set the dough aside to hydrate for about 10 minutes while you prepare to bake.
Step
4
Heat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Make the nutmeg-sugar mixture by combining the remaining ¼ cup/50 grams sugar with the nutmeg in a small bowl.
Step
5
Roll the dough into balls, each one the size of a golf ball or about 45 grams, then roll each dough ball in the nutmeg-sugar. Transfer the balls to the baking sheets, about 2 inches apart, and bake 10 to 13 minutes, rotating pans and switching racks halfway through, until slightly puffed and just set.
Step
6
Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. These cookies are even better the day after they're made, and will keep for 4 days sealed in an airtight container.
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out of 5
3,090
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Cooking Notes
Lauren
I used 2 tbsp of gold rum instead of rum extract, and added another 1 tbsp flour to compensate. I baked them for 14 minutes. Tastes pretty good! Now, to pour the bourbon...
Sue
Rum extract is disgusting, and rum isn't sufficiently concentrated for one tbsp to add much flavor. The best solution I've found thus far is to lightly brown the butter and then use 3 tbsp dark (strongly flavored) rum in place of the extract. Evaporating the water in the butter helps make room for a little extra liquid without unduly increasing spread.
BD
Lovely flavor and texture. I made them exactly as the recipe called, but decided 45 gram sized cookies were a tad too big (for sharing with multiple other holiday cookies), so I made the majority of mine 23 grams and cooked them for the same amount of time. Perfect.
Hannah
I have the same question - can we use rum as a substitute for rum extract?
Jen Braun
GREAT cookie recipe! Made it with rum, not extract — worked fine. Easy to make, dough is very easy to work with. The crunch of the sugar, the cakey egg yolk dough and the nutmeg flavor are an addictive combination. I made them smallish, and got 5 dozen. My kids and I ate so many straight off the cookie sheets that now I have to make another batch for our cookie boxes. This goes into my permanent Christmas recipe collection...
Sapana
I just used rum instead of the extract and they came out great!
michelle s
I made these today exactly as written. The texture is very good and they taste good but I would prefer a stronger rum and nutmeg flavor. They mostly taste like a snickerdoodle with a hint of nutmeg. I will make again but double the rum extract and add some nutmeg to the batter instead of the nutmeg only being in the sugar coating.
Sophia
To store for later, roll the dough into balls, skip the nutmeg-sugar step, and freeze. When ready to bake, warm the balls a little with your hands (to make them stickier), dredge in nutmeg-sugar and bake as usual. No need to thaw. I added a minute (10 min. in my oven for fresh, 11 for frozen) and they came out perfect.
PH
Can we use 1 T (or some other amount) vanilla extract instead of rum or rum extract? My 9-year-old doesn't want the rum flavor. Thanks!
Sue
Nearly all cookie doughs can be baked straight from the freezer with no changes other than adding a minute or two to the baking time. When I back snickerdoodles from frozen, I give them just a few minutes to defrost on the kitchen counter before rolling them in my sugar-spice mixture and baking, to help the sugar-spice mixture adhere to the dough.
Sue
Absolutely. People have been making snickerdoodles for generations with wooden spoons and elbow grease. There is absolutely no reason to call for a mixer to make cookies, so long as you're able to adequately cream the butter and sugar together until they're fluffy. That step is essential for good cookie texture, but it's extremely easy to achieve with a spoon and room-temperature butter. Just make sure that your butter is room temperature!
Rose
What a great cookie! First time I’ve ever grated whole nutmeg and it made quite a difference. So fresh tasting! Agree with another reviewer that 45g makes too large of a cookie. 23g was perfect.
Bobbie
Honestly, these might be my new favorite cookies. Like...ever. I used preground nutmeg to no disappointment and added cinnamon to the rolling sugar as well. Will probably try adding nutmeg to the dough next time, ‘cause why not? And I know that there definitely will be many, many next times.
Sophie
This recipe was disappointing in texture and I think I know the reason why. They came out cakey, and they did not flatten out with cooling. This is because there is too much flour. Maybe it would be different if you weighed out the amount instead of using cups, which is what I did. All other recipes (eg. Cook’s Illustrated, Nancy Baggett) call for 2.5 cups for the same ratio of ingredients. The flavour was good, however. I will make these again but with an adjustment to the flour.
Ash
Substituted bourbon aged in port barrels for the rum extract. Success! The fresh nutmeg sugar coating is wonderful and the cookies have a creamy center. Made smaller truffle sized balls and ended up with 4 dozen cookies.
mam
Rum extract is terrible. Ruined these cookies for me. Use regular rum, beside that these were good.
CW
Made exactly as written the first time, and they were delicious. The second time, I added 2 tsp of nutmeg to the dough in addition to the nutmeg-sugar combination for rolling the cookies (we really like nutmeg). I also added 1 tsp of dark rum in addition to the rum extract. Used the smallest cookie scoop in the set. Baked for 10 minutes. Seriously amazing. My husband's colleague said he'd propose to any woman who baked these for him.
Gari
Added 1 tsp of nutmeg and cinnamon to the batter, three tbs of dark rum as sub for rum extract, and an extra 1.5 tbs of flour to compensate
wondering in Wellesley
Use just a teaspoon of rum flavor. Add vanilla. Roll in nutmeg mix with some cinnamon.
tara sharp
Straight out of the oven and warm? Heaven.Accidentally made too much of the sugar and spice mixture, so sprinkled a bit on top of each cookie, just as they were coming out of the oven. Not necessarily recommended, but sure was yummy!
vh
2 tbsp dark rum, add nutmeg to dough as well as sugar coating. Perfect.
Ari
I made these but accidentally left the dough out uncovered for an hour and half instead of 10 minutes like the video. I got side tracked with other dishes! They were still easy to roll and came out perfect!!! I didn’t have fresh nutmeg and used nutmeg powdered instead. The rum extract smells excessive but the amount is perfect for these cookies, trust the process! I will definitely be making these again and again!
Bella
For more intense flavor, make these with rum extract rather than rum. I've made these cookies both ways and using rum resulted in less flavorful cookies even when tripling the volume called for in the recipe.
jjkish
Great recipe. Per others recommendation i reduced flour to 2 1/2 cups. Also added cinnamon and nutmeg to dough. Slightly chewy and very delicious
Julian
I just made this recipe and followed the metric measurements to a tee. I personally found the cookies a bit too dry; as others have commented, the flour:butter ratio is higher than other recipes (even compared to NYT's stock snickerdoodle recipe by Samantha Seneviratne). Baked a tester and found it didn't really spread out at all, so I took a commenter's advice about slightly flattening the dough balls into pucks before baking. Would probably reduce flour by maybe 60g (or 1/2 cup) next time.
Nutmeg
A delightful twist on the good ol' snickerdoodle! The rum extract really swoops in to make this a lovely eggnog reminiscent recipe. The only thing I did differently was use 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg and 1 tsp cinnamon in the sugar coating and these were perfect. I could have shoveled the whole batch of dough in my gullet if I didn't have enough self restraint (which I barely do anyways)
drendar
Used 2 tbsp rum, not enough flavor. Grated entire nutmeg into and on top.....very good. Got better after they set.
ck
In case I haven't already commented here, these are the best Christmas cookies EVER! They're always a surprise hit to those whom we share them with. I tend to make 26 gram balls, which yields more cookies! I use a combo of brandy and vanilla extract since that's what's usually on hand.
Victoria
These fall under the dangerously delicious category of homemade treats! I made two batches of these fantastic cookies. I made two small edits, I added a few dashes of nutmeg to the cookie batter to drive home the spice and I portioned the cookies a bit smaller at about 30 grams each vs. the recommended 45 which yielded me 34 cookies in the batch and a size I really like. We really adore eggnog in our household, and this cookie will be added to my annual cookie bake!
Raryd
Absolutely delicious! And I am not usually a big snickerdoodle fan.
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