One of the most American of cookies is the Snickerdoodle, sweet buttery balls of dough rolled in cinnamon sugar. Get to the eating all the quicker with this delicious bar cookie recipe. These Snickerdoodle Bars are easy to make and taste just as good as the classic without the work.

Once upon a time I shared a recipe for a Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake that our family loves and has enjoyed on many occasions. Unfortunately, when I first published the post I was unaware of not one, but TWO typographical errors. In typing from my notes, my eyes skimmed over the baking powder and the milk. Yikes!

Early on the first day, savvy readers pointed out that something must be wrong. Where was the leavening? I was able to correct the missing baking powder within a few hours of publication. Whew.

(Many thanks and apologies to those gracious folks who followed my error-filled recipe with a good attitude! It goes down in the annals of history as The Day FishMama Tanked Everyone’s Breakfast.)

However, it wasn’t until a day or two later that I made the coffeecake again, this time using a printout from the site instead of my handwritten notes. Huh. Something wasn’t quite right. The batter wasn’t light and fluffy. What’s going on here?

I had already spread it in the pan when I realized my error. I had forgotten to list the milk in the ingredients. Uh oh. Chalk it up to one big fail for the week, right?

Wrong.

Okay, yes, if you were looking for coffeecake, it was an absolute fail.

How To Make Snickerdoodle Bars

These bars are super simple from scratch recipe! They can be made in one bowl as well. They use oil as the fat, so that means you just need to whisk your sugar together with your oil. Add in your egg, vanilla, then your dry ingredients.

Then these bars will get a brown sugar, cinnamon topping to sprinkle on top before baking.

Once the thing was baked and sliced into squares, I realized that it was a fabulous cookie!

In fact, it tastes like one big snickerdoodle without all the hassle of rolling those dough balls in cinnamon sugar! It’s a rich and buttery, sweet and cinnamony cookie that disappears in a flash!

So there you have it. A very happy accident. One to go down in history. Bake some today and let me know if you don’t agree. Hint: they’re really good with tea.

How to make this good and cheap:

Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of flour and butter can help keep the price down. I like to stock up and keep butter in my freezer so I can have it on hand whenever I need it!

Buying in bulk – It’s rare that I would buy just one bag of flour. Instead I stock up when I see a sale. I also have gotten into the habit of buying cases of flour from Bob’s Red Mill. I practice the same bulk buying for spices and other baking ingredients.

How I make this recipe easy:

This Snickerdoodle Bar recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.

Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:

stainless steel mixing bowl – I’m not sure you have too many of these.

Silicone spatula/spoon – I have two or three of these – so convenient!

parchment paper – I hate washing pans. Parchment paper makes clean up a breeze. Use office binder clips to secure the paper to the 9×13-inch pan until you get the batter spread.

– I hate washing pans. Parchment paper makes clean up a breeze. Use office binder clips to secure the paper to the 9×13-inch pan until you get the batter spread. 9×13-inch pan – I love the ones that come with plastic lids for easy storage and stacking in the freezer.

Once you’ve baked these Snickerdoodle Bars, I’d love for you to come back and rate them. Thanks so much!

And if you really love Snickerdoodles, be sure to try my rolled, healthified version here.